The Markings of a Hero
by AuDC Productions
Summary: Malcolm Jackson, a father and a US Army veteran, wanted to be the hero his city of New Camford desperately needed. He would ultimately fail. His son, Elias, is now left wondering why anyone would want to become a vigilante in the first place. During Eli's search for answers, he slowly grows into the man that his father intended to be- a real hero.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** So here we are with a new story outside of the ongoing Jake Cross series. As a warning, the update for this story will be kind of slow until Arkham Rising is finished. The main character is a male OC and will take place in the non-canon city of New Camford. There will also be a few other OCs who will play as minor villains and supportive cast to expand on the city itself.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own any locations, characters, or names related to DC Comics. All rights reserved.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter One: A Back-story

Elias "Eli" Jackson took in a deep breath as he eyed the living room filled with boxes. In his mind, he really could not fathom the thoughts of his father being killed. The man seemed nearly invincible and now…

Now he was forced to move in with his Bialyan mother and American stepfather.

It had been four days since Eli's father's funeral and three weeks since his dad's death. In that time, Eli had stayed alone in the apartment by himself. He stayed behind the familiar doors and walls he called home instead of being surrounded by family constantly trying to get him to talk. In doing so made him feel like things were normal. He didn't have his mom. He didn't have to listen to his stepfather. There was just him and his dad. Except now, his dad was taken from him as well.

Eli slowly released the breath he was holding. Why did his father have to be a hero all the damn time?

The question was both metaphorical and literal in a sense.

Malcolm "Miles" Jackson was a veteran of the United States Army. After he had served his country valiantly, he returned home to work as a security guard at Stagg Enterprises in New Camford, Connecticut- where they lived. Miles would acquire some gifts and gadgets from the Research and Development department and get the idea of becoming some sort of hooded vigilante in New Camford in order to help lower the crime rate.

Miles would ultimately fail.

Eli shows a small scowl on his face as he thinks about the one problem his father had and how it played in his death. That problem was a little thing called gambling.

Miles loved to gamble- win or lose- and soon fell in deep with a certain Irish mob family centered in Gotham and that ended would Miles paying the ultimate price. Six hundred dollars of debt was all it took from some member of the Sullivan Family to pop up in New Camford and end Miles's life.

The sound of Eli's vibrating phone on the small wooden kitchen table reached Eli's ears. The teen of seventeen years moved into the kitchen to answer it.

Picking the phone up, he pressed the "talk" button on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Hey Jacks," It was his older cousin Mallory Saunders who lived in Gotham City. "You still hanging in there?"

"Yeah, I'm still moving around." The boy paused and sighed. "Well actually, I'm a little bummed out about having to move into my mom's. I'd prefer to just stay here alone or move down to Gotham with you."

Mallory hummed in thought. "Me and you living under the same roof? With my son and mom? I doubt you could handle the insanity of that Jacks. Maybe you should just move in with your mom and stepdad."

"And what? Listen to them tell me how happy they are that I'm there?" Eli angrily spoke. "You know how badly I hate being there. Dad wouldn't have forced me to go."

"He's the only person that forced you to go."

The statement was true in more ways than one and Eli begrudgingly groaned at the fact. His father was practically the only person in the world who made Eli keep contact with his mother and younger half-brother, Samuel.

"So what is your mom going to do with your dad's apartment?" Mallory's voice broke Eli's thoughts.

Eli gave a shrug as if he expected his cousin to see him. "I don't know. My dad had it paid until December so… I hope she keeps it. I hope I can keep it."

"If you do, maybe we can live there together. No parents." Mallory lightheartedly said. When Eli only gave a small groan in response, the older teenage added to her words. "It was a joke Jacks. Do you still remember how to do that?"

"Sorry if losing my dad has kept me-"

"I lost an uncle who raised me like a daughter, so don't do that." It was true. With her father leaving her and her mother at a young age, Mallory had turned to Miles for a father figure years ago.

"Mal, I'm sorry." Eli said after a minute of silence. "I just… This just sucks, you know? I mean… I don't… Damn it."

"I get it Jacks. Just take your time and call whenever you need to. New Camford isn't that far from Gotham and you know I'll come up there if you need me to." Mallory stated.

"I will… Thanks again Mal." Eli said.

The two said their goodbyes before they ended their call. Eli was once more alone in his dad's apartment with nothing but Malcolm's boxes and Eli's lingering feelings for the deceased man. The nostalgia was heavy in the air and Eli regrettably wanted nothing to do with it. He just wanted his father back, which in turn only built on the emotion he was looking to bury.

Fortunately and unfortunately, those thoughts were shattered by his vibrating cell phone.

Damn, it was his mother.

* * *

Nearly forty minutes later, Eli was once again walking in his mother's gated neighborhood, returning to her home. His mother stayed in the esteemed neighborhood named Mancastle Hills. It was on the northwestern outskirts of the town and filled with green lawns and luxurious European-styled homes.

The neighborhood was much different from the borough his father's apartment was located; Cheshire Square. Cheshire Square was filled with old buildings and struggling businesses while Mancastle Hills was far away from any businesses with a more pristine canvas.

Depending on traffic, the time between the two boroughs was twenty to thirty minutes by car. Eli, unfortunately, had no such luxury and was forced to take the bus. There was a metro system that most of the New Camford residents used to quickly traverse throughout the large New England city however the nearest metro station was out of Mancastle Hills and located in the nearby McIntyre neighborhood.

Taking in a deep breath, Eli continued down the sidewalk with his hands in his jean-shorts pockets. While he did not necessarily hate the neighborhood, he had a strong dislike for the upper-class. His father was a true blue-collar kind of guy from Gotham City who, after returning from service, had a bit of a struggle to get back on his feet.

And what did his mom and his snobby stepfather do to help out? Absolutely nothing. It was his anger towards them that changed his attitude about the entirety of the population of Mancastle Hills.

Eli ignored the voice in his head that told him to turn around and just wander off somewhere. His mother would just hound him down and then he'd have to listen to her talk more than he would if he just showed up at her doorstep.

Five minutes later, Eli had reached his destination. He spotted his half-brother playing with the kid next door- Eli did not remember the young boy's name. Eli's mom's door was left open, the screen door protecting the house of the pesky summer insects that seemed to appear out of nowhere at will.

"Eli!" Sam called as he spotted his brother walk towards the porch. "Eli!"

Ignoring his brother's calls, Eli opened the glass screen door and stepped inside. The cool air was refreshing to say the least, but the thoughts of being here just made him more agitated.

"Elias," He heard the Arabic accent of his mother call out to him. "In the kitchen Elias. We have to talk."

Begrudgingly, the teen moved for the kitchen where his mother stood, standing with perfect posture behind the L-shaped island where she had finished washing her hands.

Born Leila Rassan (pronounced rah-san), Eli's mother, Leila Nolan, was the Bialyan definition of brains and beauty. Standing at five-foot ten, the slender woman kept her long dark hair out of her face nearly at all times to allow her piercing earth-tone eyes to meet their mark at all time.

Currently wearing her beige pencil skirt and white Oxford blouse, the woman gave her son a fixed stare, one that he knew all too well. She was angry at him but unwilling to shout.

"Did you drop your phone somewhere?" She was, predictably, annoyed by her son ignoring her calls. And no, he did not "ignore" her calls in the new sense of hitting the ignore button. He simply just chose not to answer her.

"No." Eli simply answered.

"Then when I call, I expect that you answer. Understood?" Eli shrugged her statement off, turning for the stairs before hearing his mother speak again. "Eli, talk to me. Tell me what it is that I can do that will make this just a little bit easier for you."

"Easier for me?" Eli growled as he looked over his shoulder at the woman.

"Yes. Losing Malcolm… It's hard on all of us, you especially. I won't pretend that you moving in with me will make you feel any better either." His mother spoke calmly. "But I do know when my boys are feeling a certain way. And right now, I'm asking you if there is anything within my power to lessen this animosity that you have."

Leila had always been quick to pick up Eli's moods, even when he did his best to hide them. Miles always told his son that Leila had a natural sixth sense that allowed her to immediately feel whatever her loved ones are feeling, but Eli believed no such thing.

Though, he was beginning to believe it.

"I don't want to be here." Eli finally voiced. "And I don't like that you're just having Dad's things sold off."

Sighing, Leila took a chance with her son. "Alright, we'll try to find somewhere for some of those boxes that are still in his apartment."

"Our. It was our apartment." Eli pointed.

"Right, right, you lived there as well. It was your home as well." Leila said. "But you can't expect me to keep that place and not be there." Eli turned to her, conveying his answer on his face. "Elias, do you honestly know how much money that will cost me and Robert?"

"I'll get a job and do it myself then." Eli told her. "Just… Just don't think I'm like you. I'll never leave Dad behind like you did."

Another thing about Leila that Eli has learned was that his mother never showed any guilt or regret, whether she felt it or not. She was always defiant, even in front of fault or grief, something that he had ultimately inherited from her.

The defiant look in Leila's eyes right now told Eli to never bring that statement back to the forefront of his mind, let alone let it slip off of his tongue again. She would never blame herself for Miles's death and would be damned if her son did, regardless if she understood his feelings or not.

"Fine," Leila finally spoke up. "Get a job. But here are the rules," Eli turned so now he was completely facing his mother. "Your grades don't drop below a B. The moment that happens, your job is gone. You will live here until after you graduate. I will allow you to stay there on breaks and every other weekend, but for the majority, here is where you'll check in Elias. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Eli responded.

"Finally," Leila counted off. "You will be joining us for family events. I don't care if your leg is broken or you have the winning lottery ticket, if Robert and I plan a trip for you and Sam, you will be there, no ifs, ands, or buts about it."

Eli groaned. He really, really, did not want to be a part of their family outings. It never went his way and it never would. But with his father gone there really was no other way out of it. He could go down to Gotham for the remainder of the summer with his cousin and aunt. But that would not help during the school year.

Realizing that this was the best deal, Eli relented.

"Fine," Eli voice was barely heard through his grit teeth. "It's a deal, Mrs. Nolan."

"Elias-"

"Eli!" The sound of Samuel's voice caught the two's attention as the young boy of eight entered the home, racing towards the kitchen where his brother and mother were. "Hey Eli, Tommy wanted to meet you!"

"Not now," Eli responded, though his brown eyes had yet to leave his mother's matching ones.

"Sam, go back outside for a minute. I need to talk to your brother." Eli snorted at Leila's words, turning to leave once more.

"I think we've said enough. I'm going to lie down."

He knew that that stunt would cost him later, but who cared? He was stuck here with an annoying half-brother, a crappy stepdad, a mom who would rather go into her office and worry about other people's problems than dealing with the problems within her family.

Ascending the stairs to the second floor, Eli reflected on the last few weeks. His father's death had angered him to say the least, especially with the obvious wrongdoers not being punished. The detectives on the case were most likely paid off by the Sullivan Family- again the city was no stranger to the dealings of mobs and gangs- which angered Eli more. His mother did nothing. His lawyer mother did absolutely nothing about that fact.

That pissed him off.

Even though Eli knew that Leila was a corporate lawyer and not a trial lawyer, he still believed that his mom could have done something to help with the case. But she refused to even try for a number of excuses that she attempted to feed him two weeks ago when they spoke about it.

Entering his rarely used room at his mother's place, Eli closed the door and made a beeline for his bed. There wasn't much he could do at the moment. His dad was dead. He was forced to live with his mom for at least two years. And to top it all off, Sam was going to be constantly near him throughout those two years.

Flipping onto his back and staring at the ceiling, Eli attempted to control his sporadic and angry thoughts. He needed to focus on something else- anything else- to calm down. But he couldn't. Everything that raced across his mind just reminded him of his problems with no solution in sight.

Kicking his shoes off, he took in a heavy breath and exhaled slowly.

"At least the bed is comfortable." Eli muttered as he closed his eyes.

Eli knew he wouldn't be able to go to sleep anytime soon. He just wanted to rest in private before dealing with Leila again. He idly thought about calling Mallory back or even leaving, but neither of those two ideas would help him in the long run. All in all, his best course of action was to lay back and think of an answer to all of his problems.

Eli snorted. "Hell of a way to start summer vacation…"

And indeed, it was.

* * *

As many would assume for a city of its size, New Camford had quite the nightlife that went on through rain, sleet, or snow. Sure, it did not compare to other Northern cities such as New York, Jersey City, or even Gotham City, but the nightlife of New Camford had hosted its fair share of parties throughout its existence. Living in Cheshire Square for most of his life, Eli could always hear the cries of the parties from his apartment.

But now here in Mancastle Hills.

Up here, it was quiet, so quiet that he could hear a distant train despite the tracks avoiding the neighborhood completely. Seated in a lawn chair in the backyard of his mother's home, Eli attempted to hear any signs of the downtown life that he had grown accustom to- he'd even settle for a random gunshot or two. He wanted to hear anything but the annoying chirping crickets.

He got his wish in the sound of the glass doors sliding open and then the thumping sound of them closing seconds later, a shadow casted down on him.

"You know," Leila spoke to her son. "I'm actually surprised you haven't run off yet. It's something I would have done at your age."

"…" Eli did not say anything until he heard the distinct sound of a lighter. Turning his head, he saw his mother lighting a cigarette before waving the flame out. "I…"

Recognizing her son's shock, Leila cocked a brow. "What? I can't smoke at my own home?"

"I didn't know you smoked." Eli stated.

"A teenage habit I do from time to time to calm my nerves." Leila spoke as she exhaled a cloud of smoke. "I don't think I need to tell you to keep this between us. Robert, and your dad for that matter, believes I quit ages ago. And Sam knows nothing about it."

Eli smirked, looking back at the yard. "Seems as you're not as square as I thought."

"I guess I'm not." Leila chuckles in response. A comfortable silence fell between them before Leila began speaking once more. "I know about the apartment, Eli. It's been paid off until December. But I don't want you staying there all the time, okay?"

"I'll try not to." her son replied, although they both knew that he would most likely reneged on said promise.

"You know, I never got to see my parents before they died, so I don't know how you feel seeing Malcolm. But that anger inside of you isn't healthy." Leila stated.

"And smoking is?"

"You were raised here in America. I, Bialya." retorts the woman while taking a small drag. "While obesity and bullying may be leading issues in your generation, I had to sneak into school to get an education and then risk my life to escape to American colleges. You don't know the meaning of 'unhealthy' yet."

"Is there a point to this?" Already tired of another lecture, Eli was more than ready to just up and leave for his bedroom again.

"The point," Leila paused and took another drag. "The point is that I lost someone too and you're too selfish to even let me grieve properly with my son." Eli whipped his head, giving his mother a hardened glare. "Be careful of what you say, Elias."

"I'm selfish?! You left dad for your doctor husband and your rich life!" Eli snapped.

"Your father wasn't… Sane. Yes, I think that's the best word to describe it. He wasn't sane. He wasn't insane but he wasn't sane." Leila told Eli. "The army changed him for better and worse and you… You just forced him to pretend that he was better."

Eli scoffed. "So this is my fault."

"No, that's not what I'm saying," Leila replied before sighing. "I'm saying that… The man I loved, your dad, died years ago. There were nights when he'd wake up and be a different person. Not the America that you were born and raised in. But the Bialya I worked so hard to escape."

"…" Eli sat quietly, staring at his mother's features. In her nightgown, she looked thinner than she had earlier and somewhat more vulnerable. "Is that why you don't care? Because he is something you wanted to get away from?"

"I care, Elias. Why else would I be up at this hour?" Leila returned. There was another pregnant pause before the woman continued. "Army Ant. Can you believe that?" Eli frowned and gained more confusion when his mother began laughing. "That idiot father of yours went around calling himself the Army Ant. I pray that you got my creativity."

Eli found himself smiling a bit. "I never knew that…"

"He told me a few months ago. And I, being so caught up in my job, merely brush him off and let him run out there to be a hero this city needs." Leila said with a grin, flicking some ash off of her cigarette. "Dumbest thing I ever heard. But, I guess, he was doing something he really wanted to do."

"It was stupid." Eli said. "Why would he go out there and fight crime? Especially with his debt with the Russians!"

"Because that's just who your father was. He was more than the man I, or even you, deserved. Too bad he never did quiet the criminals that run freely here."

Eli sat quietly for a while before looking up at his mother. "He really wanted to be another one of them? Another one of those guys that think that they can just put on a mask and some stupid costume and save the day."

"I never understood that myself." Leila told her son. "Then again, why do half of them do it? Fame? Money? I don't know and I doubt I ever will. But what I do know is that he would call every time he would go out and I would always ignore it. I ignored every call except for the night it happened."

There was another silence that fell over the two, Eli quietly trying to figure out his father's motives for becoming another heroic victim of New Camford. By now, Eli assumed that the city officials have lost count to how many civilians have given their lives in a vain attempt of becoming New Camford's version of Superman or Wonder Woman. And it wasn't just normal guys and gals attempting this gig. Meta-humans that have lived in secrecy within the city have tried and, to this very day, none of them have succeeded.

So, with the odds already stacked against him, why would Miles attempt such a tedious job? Was there something meaningful behind it or was he just bored?

"Whatever the reason was," concluded Leila. "His actions were foolish and reckless, with his gambling problems being the end of him." Leila scoffed lightly. "And even with all that said, I still love him dearly…"

Eli leaned back in the chair and let those words replay over and over in his head. He felt the exact same way. He thought that being a hero in a hero-less town was stupid. He thought that Miles's actions were stupid and irresponsible. And yet…

Yet he still loved his dad and wanted nothing more than to kill the sorry bastards who took Miles away from him.

After a few minutes, Eli had realized that his mother had finished her cigarette and was staring at the moon. He would have asked if she wanted to sit, but her face was transfixed on the celestial object. Her crossed arms made her appear agitated at first glance however her eyes told Eli that she was calmly in deep thought, possibly reliving pleasant memories.

Not knowing what to do or say in this situation, Eli simply stood up.

"I'm going to bed." Eli quietly stated, hoping he was heard but not loud enough to disturb whatever mood she was in.

Leila made eye contact with Eli that had him freeze in his steps. For a moment, he thought he had indeed ruined her thoughts and she was going to lash out at him. However she merely turned her gaze back to the moon.

Taking this as a nonverbal goodnight, Eli stepped by his mom and soon reentered the house. The feint smell of cigarette followed him inside, though nothing that would last for a few minutes, let alone hours when Robert and Sam got up. But it wasn't the smell that Eli was worried about.

Giving his mom one final glance, Eli left the kitchen with a new problem on his mind.

Was his mom okay?

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** So there is the first chapter. This will have a slow start where Eli won't become a fully resolved hero for a while. Also, this story will take place mostly within New Camford. The villains that Eli will face in the beginning will not be well-established villains with a world-renowned rep sheet. Eli will simply work his way up, starting with the local criminals. Other heroes and villains will appear later on to add to Eli's character as a person and as a hero.

Another thing I want to mention is that this story itself will touch on a lot of real life things that are normally avoided in FF. There will be times of racism, sexism, homophobia, and more. There will be warnings on the chapters where these will be found in for those who are easily offended. But please, do not think that everything in this story reflects my personal thoughts and beliefs. Yes, I am the author but I cannot base every character on me. Everyone would be identical and the plot would be boring as hell.

Again, these first few chapters will be pretty slow with more character build than anything. They will pretty much shape and expound on Eli and his family life, a little bit more detail about his father's vigilantism, and how New Camford plays into the DC society. The next chapter in particular goes a bit deeper in Eli's looks and likes and his home neighborhood of Cheshire Square. Hopefully by the end of this, Eli and his city will be well established in all of our minds.

Thanks again for reading, especially if you are someone who jumped over from my Jake Cross series. I can't express enough how much I appreciate your support. As always, leave a review or a PM for any question, thoughts, or comments that you have and I will catch you next time. Peace.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** So here is the second chapter of The Markings of a Hero. Again, these next few chapters will just be used to construct Eli's character as well as give a bit more detail about his hometown, New Camford. Like my Jake Cross series, I will be doing a review corner for this story every four or five chapters to show that I do read all of your comments and appreciate it greatly. However, unlike my previous series, I will do a chapter ratings for each chapter- as I mentioned earlier- to warn about sensitive topics and comments said by the characters. Enjoy.

 **Chapter Warnings:** The following chapters is rated T with swearing, racial colloquial term (The "N" Word), and a smidge of religious beliefs.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Two: The Cheshire Girl

It was rather pleasant that no one decided to wake him up the next morning. Despite missing breakfast, he at least got to dodge his mother and stepfather before they went off to work. Sam had gone, as he always has, to the neighbors where he would remain until Leila returned home from work in the evening. This left Eli to do what he wanted for the time being.

Leaving his bedroom, he crossed the hall into the bathroom, flicking the switch on and closing the door behind him. He stared at himself in the mirror for a while.

He had his mother's eyes and eyebrows- which he was thankful for considering his dad's bushy brows- but the rest was completely his father's genes dominating. His hair had been kept short all his life, Leila never being a fan of guys with long hair.

Eli also noted that, like his father, facial hair was something he would receive very little of. Despite being seventeen, the most Eli could grow was peach fuzz that barely constituted as a five o'clock shadow. He questioned if he would gain his dad's height of seventy-six inches or if he would remain at his current height of five-foot eight, two inches shy of his mother.

"…" Eli sighed as he turned the water on. Bending over the sink, he splashed his face with cool water. Wiping his face, he glanced back up at the mirror. "I guess I'll go through those boxes and see what's inside."

It was more of a suggestion than an actual statement. Truthfully, it would make more sense to go through the items at his apartment than attempt to bring them here considering he did not have a safe way of transporting the boxes without his mom and stepdad. Therefore, he could only open the boxes that were hidden away in his father's closet at his dad's apartment.

Giving himself one final look over, Eli finalized his resolve. He was going to open the boxes he had set aside yesterday prior to Mallory's call. He would find out more about this "Army Ant" and will eventually find out what possessed his dad to even become a vigilante. And then he would somehow get revenge on the Sullivan Family.

Not as a hero though, but as a very angry son.

* * *

With school out for the summer, Cheshire Square had several of its sidewalks blocked by kids doing random activities that ranged from hopscotch to card games. The older teens lined along the apartment buildings, a good handful of them waiting to commit an illegal affair for monetary gain, while others were simply watching out for the younger kids. Crinkly Park, a recreational center nearby Eli's old home, had its basketball courts, field, and playground filled with children of Cheshire Square and its neighboring boroughs.

Though that was just the beauty of Cheshire Square. It was also home to three men and one woman who have all died in an attempt to become a costume hero. In fact, it was theorized that one out of fifteen kids from Cheshire Square will dawn a costume and die in the line of duty. It was those thoughts that were causing families to move out of Cheshire Square to other neighborhoods within the city in order to give their children a better future.

Ignoring those thoughts, Eli made his way up the steps that led inside of his apartment building. As a force of habit, he subconsciously moved to check for any mail.

After fishing the key out of the left side pocket of his baggy blue jeans, Eli used the key to open up his mailbox. Inside were, undoubtedly, a stack of letters and his father's latest edition of _NexSquire_ , a popular magazine in New Camford that did its job to inform and entertain its readers. Though not as high-selling as the _New York Times_ or _The Wall Street Journal_ , it was still fairly popular within the city and surrounding areas. It was only after removing the letters and magazine did Eli spot a small box stuffed inside.

"What in the hell?" Eli questioned quietly as he removed the box. "It's addressed to Dad…"

Removing the parcel and mail, Eli closed the mailbox and began walking towards the steps while going through the letters. Most of them were addressed to his father, despite Malcolm being dead for three weeks now.

So caught up in his search through his mail, the teen is oblivious to of the descending female that bumps into him, nearly causing him to fall backwards down a flight of stairs.

"Shit," Eli said as he was forced to drop the mail in his right hand in order to grab the railing. "Sorry about that." Glancing up he saw the girl who he assumed was of some Eastern Asian decent glaring at him. "…"

"Are all the people in this complex this careless or are you a special case?" the girl questioned.

"Well," Eli noted that while the remark itself could be seen as disrespectful, the girl did not say it in a disrespectful tone. "There is that guy that lives on the third floor. Blind as a bat."

"Uh-huh?" Obviously she was uninterested as Eli began picking up the mail that he dropped.

Eli gathered his dropped mail and looked up to see the green eyes of the girl locked onto him. His initial reaction was to ignore her stares though he ruled that out once she arched a thin brow upwards towards her hairline after they made eye contact. His next option was to ask her what was wrong but before that could happen; the cell phone he had missed in her hand began to ring, gaining her attention.

"Damn it," The female adolescent mumbled. She then addressed Eli. "I have to go. Try to be more careful, will you? I'd hate it if this becomes a reoccurring thing."

"Sure, uh…"

"Jade." she says as she steps by. "See you around."

Eli completed his mental model of the girl once he got a good back shot of her. He noted that her hair was longer than he imagined, flowing loosely down to the small of her back. Her black tight skinny jeans and green top gave away her athletic figure without much effort. Eli also noted that this girl, Jade, was also filling out quite nicely in the breast department.

Not that he would know just how much she had grown, mind you.

* * *

Eli resumed his climb to the third floor where he and his father once lived while replaying images of this mysterious Jade. She was obviously new here, whether she was new to this particular part of town or New Camford entirely was something he did not know.

Maybe he would find out later?

Finally making it to the third floor, Eli stepped to his apartment door and sighed heavily. A year ago at this time he would be on his way to Crinkly Park with a few friends whilst his dad was at work. Now he was returning home with no intentions of any outdoor activities for a while.

Entering the apartment, Eli comes into view of the boxes in question.

These ten boxes were found in his father's bedroom closet and had remained unopened since their discovery. Eli, after being told by the police that his father had been gunned down, suspects that in these boxes was the equipment that his dad used. In was in these boxes that Eli was opening that he could get a small answer as to why Malcolm did what he did.

Oddly enough, now that he was staring at the boxes in question, he was growing nervous. He had left these boxes untouched for three months and now, on a day where he could finally get some answers as to what they contain, he was becoming too afraid of finding some other secret out.

"Come on Eli. You can do this." His motivation pretty much fell on deaf ears as his body remained still by the door. "Fucking hell…"

Anger welled up inside of him. Today was the perfect day to find out about his dad's secrets. And here he was too afraid to do it.

"Let's get on with it." Eli said to himself once more. "You're acting like Sam."

Eli approached the sofa slowly, sitting the mail on the wooden corner table next to it. The ten boxes were all different types and sizes. There were two that were sat on the couch that were smaller white storage boxes that were filled with papers, from what Eli could tell. Then there were larger cardboard boxes that were apparently sealed up with packaging tape that were stacked neatly in a corner. Eli had no idea what to expect in those.

"Better get started." Eli said as he sat on the couch, grabbing one of the white boxes on the couch and sitting it in his lap.

As expected, it was filled with notebooks and folders. Eli took out a black binder and opened it.

"What is this?" Eli thought aloud as he gazed upon pages with pictures of people he did not know and some places within New Camford and Gotham. He soon turned to a page with a blurry picture of an unknown man taped to a sheet of paper. "What…?"

Eli read the text on the page quietly. "Donald Sullivan of the Irish Sullivan Family. Last seen at Hotel Olympus along with Vladimir Mozgov of a Russian crime family of New Camford…"

Eli turned the page and spotted a picture of another person who he assumed was Vladimir before frowning in confusion and reading his father's words once more.

"The _Irish_ Sullivan Family? I thought the cops said that Dad died from a Russian crime family?" Eli pondered. "So the Sullivan Family is an Irish family in Gotham? I thought…" He paused and grunted. "Does it even matter? It's not like that information will bring Dad back."

Despite saying that, Eli continued to read through the notebook. Apparently his father had learned of several men that were working for the Sullivan Family and the Russians that were located within New Camford. Unfortunately, Miles was not known for his completely legible writing which gave Eli more headaches than the information itself.

Minutes later Eli sat notebook on the table and began to go through the other files and papers stashed into the box. While not the most studious student in the world, Eli was no stranger of the late night pre-exam ritual that has kept him a B student for the majority of his schooling career. This box- and predictably the next one on the sofa with him- was just notes and lessons that would ultimately give him the answers he wanted. But first, he had to learn them.

Eli scanned through the papers, learning what he could clearly decipher while setting aside those that he could not. His mind was filled with people and places from New Camford all the way to Australia. Some of the people within his father's files were criminals, some just suspects, and a handful of them dead. Others were a list of wannabe heroes with a few familiar names such as Batman and Flash located here and there. There were even clippings of newspaper articles of some of these heroes and criminals.

But there was nothing that answered his question. As informative as all of it was, there was absolutely no reason as to why Malcolm chose this life; no motive at all.

It took an hour for his patience to finally reach an end and Eli simply sat the box aside. He realized that there was nothing in there that could help him at all. Though, he did find some comfort that he knew where to direct the investigators if they should come asking him questions again. Other than that, his search had yet to provide any fruits of wisdom.

And so he began going through the other boxes within the room.

And was thoroughly surprised that he had not earlier.

There were gadgets and pieces of costume stashed away. Two pistols roughly nine inches in length, each of them with a small red laser sight seen beneath the guns. Finding an odd brand logo on the sides of the weapons, he theorized that they were not American-made.

"Metric," Eli commented to himself as he held the black firearms as he remembered his father's teachings. "Foreign guns are always in the metric system."

Eli set the guns down and continued his box openings. He would soon find a red laptop- a Kord Industries product he knew nothing about- as well as some gloves, black goggles, a black-bladed army combat knife, what appeared to be small grenades, and other accessories that Eli was sure to be for Malcolm's Army Ant person.

"Holy shit," Eli quietly gasped. "Dad was preparing for a war." However, it was at that moment that he remembered his mother's words from the previous night. There were times when his dad appeared to be alright and then there was someone who Eli had yet to meet. "…Or he thought he was already in one."

It was no secret to the people in the Nolan and Jackson families that Leila was a bold, near fearless woman. Things normally did not worry nor scare her. So when she made the comment last night that Malcolm, one certain nights, did indeed scare it, it got Eli's attention.

Shaking the thoughts from his mind, Eli glanced around the living room and found it in disarray. Papers lined the sofa and table. There were weapons scattered around his person on the floor. The laptops charger was lying on the ground in a tangled mess.

"Did I really do all of this?" Eli asked himself in disbelief. In his search for finding answers, he had undoubtedly cluttered the one room in the house his father wanted to keep in some order for guest's- especially Leila's- sake. "Great…"

He had to clean this up. That was a given. No one but him was going to clean this mess up. So on the second day of his final summer vacation, he found himself cleaning up an apartment that was not messy prior to his arrival.

Rising to his feet from his seated position on the floor, Eli was hit with a nostalgic collection of memories.

Those moments, especially when he was younger, where his parents forbade him from doing anything until he had straightened up his bedroom. On days that Eli had to go to his mom's, the woman would drive here just to supervise Eli as he cleaned his room while Malcolm left for work.

Eli grinned at how dumb he found his younger self to be by continuously scraping things under the bed despite it being the first place both of his parents checked.

His body continued to clean the mess while his mind wandered down memory lane. He remembers his father teaching him how to play Darts and a few variants of poker, bar games that have landed Eli in more trouble than he can count.

The first time he had hid Hannah Souza, his ex, in his bedroom had been another fond memory to pop up. Malcolm had given Eli a very firm talking to before sending his son and his at-the-time girlfriend to Leila. While Eli was still a novice about Bialyan traditions and such, he now knew that there was no childish way that a Bialyan man or woman could explain sex to their child. There was no "birds and bees" metaphor or the whole "when a man loves a woman" speech. Leila had just jumped right into it and, in turn, embarrassed Malcolm- who had been attempting Leila to approach the matter at a different angle- than it did the two fifteen-year-olds present.

But, Eli did get free condoms out of it which did come in use later on.

Now a chuckle escaped him as he remembered his dad's reaction to when Hannah and Eli went on their first date. Malcolm was, in Leila's words, a "cheesy romantic" so he had suggested that Eli buy Hannah flowers (which Eli did not do) and compliment Hannah throughout the date (which Eli did). Malcolm had also offered to show Eli how to prepare a good dinner to add to that romantic element, but Eli had chosen a restaurant instead.

Eli paused in his actions.

Did it really take him three weeks to actually have this little blast to the past? And how did cleaning up bring about all of these happier memories? And why the hell was his mother in so many?

"Eli!" a female knocker interrupted Eli's thoughts. "Eli open up, we want to talk!"

Eli's earth-brown eyes scanned the room to find that he had only accomplished half the job. The weapons, something he _really_ wanted to hide and keep for himself, were still lying about and the laptop had not been put up either.

"Eli!"

But of course, Hannah, the girl knocking on the door, would not leave until she saw his face.

"Coming!" Eli called back before muttering, "Brat…" Stepping carefully over some sheets of paper that had yet to be stacked and put away, Eli reached the door and opened it enough for his body to block any view that Hannah and his friend George, who was there as well, would have. "What?"

Hannah Souza, a Hispanic teen who stood at five-five, gave Eli a bland look.

"We haven't spoken in three weeks and all you can say is 'what' to me?" The New York City born girl questioned with a mixture of worry and anger. "Eli, what have you been doing? And why," Hannah rose on her toes to spy over Eli's shoulder. "Why won't you let us inside?"

"I'm going through my dad's things." Eli said pushing the thin girl away so he could successfully step into the hall, closing the door behind him. "I'm fine."

The girl in her dark plaid shorts and black shirt gave a scoff when she was physically moved away from the room but chose not to do anything about it.

"Nigga, no you're not." George Lincoln, an African-American who was currently trying to dread his hair, spoke as he looked at Eli with bloodshot eyes. "You've been hiding in there for weeks man! Come on out and breathe!"

Eli noted that George had been smoking earlier as the scent of marijuana on his baggy clothes and redden eyes were too evident to ignore.

"I'm fine, trust me. Just having a hard time figuring out what I'm going to do with this." Eli paused. "My mom and her bitchy husband don't want all of it, you know? So Mal and I were thinking of ways to divide it."

Eli was not one to believe that one lie led to another. A good lie stood on its own and made everyone believe it. While lying to his friends was something he was actually against for the majority of the time, he did not want them to even glance at what he had found inside for multiple reasons.

Hannah pushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear.

"Eli, please talk to us," she plead lightly. "I know you. You'll end up doing something stupid and your mom will just get on you for it."

George snorted. "Fuck that bitch." He glanced at Eli's glare. "No offense."

"None taken." Eli sardonically responded. Despite his personal feelings about Leila, he still did not approve of others openly belittling her.

"Look," George began, clapping his hands for emphasis. "There's this party down on Saints Row later on tonight. Eric said to come on through and we'll find something or someone to get your mind straight, feel me?"

Hannah scoffed. "A party? Really George? He lost his dad, not the state finals."

"Yeah, I know. But what would Miles want, hmm?" Eli raised his brows at George's response. "Miles would have wanted his son to get out of the house, find some nice thick New Camford chickadee, and-"

"Enough George," Hannah interrupted, a hand raised to cover her left ear. She glanced at Eli. "Why are all of your friends pigs?"

Eli frowned. "Why did you come with him?"

"Because he followed me from Crinkly," Eli nodded. That sounded like a plausible explanation given that Hannah and George were really not the best of friends. "He said that he was on his way here to speak to you but he got caught up talking to his brother and those other goons."

"Mad no one is talking about you." mumbled George, gaining an eye-roll from the doe-eyed Hispanic. "Look, Eli, get out and live life, alright? Life wants to take your pops away? Fuck her. Make life your bitch."

"Is that supposed to be advice?" inquires Hannah.

"Hey, I call it like it is, alright? Yolo. That's all I'm saying. Yolo." Eli grinned at George's words.

"Alright man, I hear you. But can you give us a minute before she actually starts speaking Spanish? I'm already dealing with one headache, I don't need another." George accepts the suggestion and walks towards the stairs. Eli waits for George to descend before speaking to Hannah. "Am I in trouble with you or is this just a house check?"

"Both," Eli chuckled. He and his father always noticed the physical and mental similarities that Hannah shared with Leila. While Hannah was not as conservative as his mother- and Eli was damn sure not going to find out how his mother was in the bed- the two had a lot of similarities that both attracted and repelled Eli from Hannah. "It's been nearly a month Eli. I just want to make sure you're okay. Is that such a bad thing?"

"It is when you bring George with you." Hannah gave him a dimpled smile. "Seriously Hannah, I'm fine for the moment. I just want to get the rest of this stuff up and go on about the day. Maybe I'll stop by Crinkly-"

"Don't. George and his goons have taken over." Hannah interrupted.

Sighing, Eli relented. "Fine. I'll call later, alright? You can tell me all about how to properly use the terms who or whom and I can pretend to care."

"You are such an asshole." Hannah playfully says, shoving his chest with her hand gently.

"There was a point in time when you loved this asshole." Eli shot back.

"I still love you. I'm just not _in love_ with you. Big difference." Eli nodded his head.

"Right, right, God and all that stuff." stated the boy.

"God gives me the free will to love you or not. Just like He probably won't mind if I slap you a few times for ignoring my calls." Hannah joked. "So call tonight. And don't do it just to piss your mom off. I am _not_ getting in-between you and her again, understood?"

"Crystal dear. Now if you don't mind, I have to call Mallory back. I need to know when she'll be up here to take her half." Eli lied. Unsurprisingly, Hannah hugged him. He returned the gesture with equal pressure. "I am fine Hannah. I promise."

"You will be." Hannah whispered before releasing him. "Um, I'm going to go speak to Carla." Eli only nods as she backs towards the steps. "Call me tonight Elias Jackson or feel my wrath tomorrow!"

Eli laughed as he stepped back into his apartment.

Closing the door behind him, Eli was once again left with the mess he had begun to clean up.

"Alright Eli," he said to himself. "Let's clean this mess up."

* * *

"What in the hell?!" Eli groaned in frustration.

It was roughly two hours after his friends had left and he had done a pretty well job hiding the equipment his father had originally stored in Malcolm's bedroom closet. He had put some in his bedroom closet for personal reasons but the majority was put back where he found it.

All except for the laptop he was currently angry at.

"Of all the times…!" Eli grunted.

Malcolm Jackson was known for a lot of things. One thing he was not known for was over-the-top unpredictable passwords. Yet here Eli was, unable to log onto the laptop because all of Malcolm's normal passwords- Malcolm's or Eli's birthdates- did not work. Eli had also tried a combination of personal information related to Malcolm, Eli, and Leila and still was blocked.

"Think Eli, think," Eli said to himself, repeatedly slapping his forehead with the palm of his left hand. "Dad must've used something that he'd never forget. What could it be?"

Eli closed his eyes and thought. To his knowledge, he had used every obvious combination there was and got nowhere. It was beyond aggravating at this point. A rather simple task, one which Eli has done multiple times before, was now being halted because Malcolm decided to go a different route when choosing a password.

Sighing, Eli laid back on his bed with his feet still planted on the floor. He glanced to his right to see his cell phone lying atop of his pillow before turning to left and seeing the foot of his bed. His eyes scanned the walls and ceilings for any hints that could lead him to this one answer.

Of course, before any revelation hit him, his cell phone would buzz noisily on his pillow. He glanced at it and debated on answering it or not. It could be Hannah checking in on him or Mallory calling to do the same. Or it could be George or someone else that he did not necessarily want to speak to at the time.

Before he came to a mental resolution, his hand had already grabbed the device.

"Yeah?" Eli answered without even checking the screen to see who it was.

"Were you planning on spending the night over there?" Leila's voice came off as neutral, something that bothered the teen.

"I wasn't planning on it and," Eli glanced at the time on his phone before putting it back against his ear. "It's only four."

Leila was heard releasing a sigh. "I'm not calling to argue, Elias. I'm calling to find out if you'll be there for the night or not. You're still my son. I do have an obligation to check up on you."

An obligation, Eli thought. That's what her duties as a parent had turned into; obligations. Then again, she never really stopped being a lawyer.

"Elias?"

"I'm here," Eli said. "I'm going back over there tonight. George wants me to go to some stupid party later and I don't want to be there."

"I thought you said you stopped hanging around that boy?" Eli released a quiet groan at her words. "You and I both know that he is always up to no good. I hope you know that by now."

"Which is why I want to be there instead of here," Eli replied in an annoyed tone. "Seriously Mama, I'm fine. George isn't here. And I will be there, okay?"

There was a pause, a really long pause at that. At first, Eli thought he had accidentally used some form of profane language, which he always double-checked his vocabulary to avoid. He then thought that something had happened to his mom due to the fact that the only time she has been this quiet was during their talk last night.

"Do you know how long it's been since you've called me that?" Eli blinked in stupor. "Since Malcolm… Since then, you've only called me 'Mrs. Nolan'. Never 'Mom' or 'Mama' like you used to."

"Oh…" Eli did his best not to let his breath of relief be heard. All of his worries were over a simple word. "Well I'll be there tonight. I was just going to hang out with Hannah for a while, walk her home, and then catch the bus back there."

Again, a good lie came in handy every now and again. Given that Leila actually approved her son's friendship with Hannah, Hannah had been one of the few people that Eli used as a solid alibi with his mom. And due to the fact that the Bialyan-born woman did not have any contact information for Hannah, Leila could never really check to see if Eli was lying or not.

"Alright," Leila said. "Try to be back before nine. I want dinner to be put up by then."

"I'll try." Eli responded.

Another audible breath escapes Leila, one that made Eli believe that he was annoying her somehow.

"Stay safe Eli, okay?"

"I will." Eli answered, ready to rush her off of the phone. "Is that all?"

Another pause. "…Yes. I'll see you later. Bye."

"Bye." Eli hung up afterwards and groaned loudly. "And I have to spend an entire year listening to this crap." Eli then looked at the red laptop that rested on his lap and sat up, careful not to send it sliding onto the floor. "And I still can't think of… Bialya."

It was the one thing that Eli had not tried that had direct ties to his mom. Only behind closed quarters did Leila mention her roots to the point that friends of his parents and stepdad still believe that she was American born to Middle Eastern immigrants. Mallory's mother, Carla, still thought that Leila was actually from a rich Syrian family. Leila's origins were something that only her family knew and at one point, that constituted Malcolm.

"Welcome!" A feminine computerized voice came from the computer.

"Christ!" Eli exclaimed aloud. "Of all the stupid things he could have used! Bialya!" Eli then looked at the screen, frowning at the icons he saw. "This isn't Windows."

Indeed, the computer's operating system was not Windows or anything that Eli had seen before. But that was not the real problem. Now that he had the machine operating and functioning, he had no idea what to do with it. Sure, going through the entirety of the computer file by file seemed like a great way to waste time, but who really had the patience to do such a thing?

His eyes scanned the screen, reading the names on the icons present, before they paused on one in particular titled: Mission Report. Clicking on the file, Eli was introduced to three new pop-ups, each being a word document of some sort.

"These are just reports from those boxes," Eli said to himself as he minimized the three documents. "What else is there?" Eli found a folder titled "Others" and clicked onto it. Multiple files appeared on the screen in rapid succession. "What in the hell? These are…"

Eli sat stunned as the pop-ups soon came to a halt. There were at least ten files that appeared, each having a picture and words beneath said picture.

"Profiles," Eli muttered to himself in astonishment. "Dad had profiles of other heroes within the city."

The teen was soon engrossed in the information, clicking on each of them and reading what Malcolm had typed down. He had not imagined that there were so many vigilantes working in New Camford, mainly because the only ones he knew were the ones they show on the news after being killed by some random gang member or other criminal. From what he could tell, or rather what Malcolm knew, was that each hero normally stuck to a neighborhood or an entire borough, but no one had been brave enough to tackle the city.

Cheshire Square, however, remained without a hero.

Eli stared at the pictures of these people- these _idiots_ \- that his father had taken gained some information on. He was brought back to his conversation with his mom the previous night. Why did they do it? Was it for the fame? Was it for the money?

Why would they risk their lives when their sons and daughters needed them to…!

"…" Eli stopped his thoughts momentarily and began closing the files he had pulled up. "Time to go."

Once again, he found his emotions quickly taking turns at sporadic moments. This time it was anger that began to swell inside of him. The thoughts of his father selflessly giving his life to protect this city while Eli was left to suffer the consequences alone angered him. Sure, one could say that Mallory and even Leila were also dealing with the loss of Malcolm as well, but Eli was more than certain that neither of the two felt the same level of grief as he did.

Sitting the laptop to the side, Eli stood up and stepped for his bedroom closet. Fishing his backpack from his closet, he returned to the laptop and shut it down. Packing the laptop and its charger, Eli looked around his room.

"What else should I take…?"

That was a question that was easily answered. He packed a few notebooks that held information on the criminal activity within the city written by Malcolm. He packed the combat knife for security purposes. Eli then retrieved the headset for the laptop to see what they were used for. He also packed the gloves and goggles for unknown reasons before zipping the bag up and throwing a strap across his shoulder.

Exiting his bedroom, he made sure to grab his cell phone and his key, pocketing the latter while keeping his cell phone in hand. He walked into the living room and looked around to make sure that he had not forgotten to put something else up. After failing to spot anything suspicious, Eli headed for the door before stopping.

"The package." Eli said to himself as he spotted the small box that had come in the mail. Setting his backpack down, he unzipped the main pocket of it and stuffed the box inside. "Alright. Now that's everything."

Leaving his apartment, Eli was greeted by the sight of Jade once more. Her green eyes seemed to glimmer with curiosity, locking onto the bag on his back.

"Running away?" she guessed.

"I wish," Eli returned. He then saw her give him a questioning look. "Moving in with my mom and stepdad."

"Uh-huh? Visiting my long lost dad with my godfather." Jade stated. "Though, New Camford's not all bad. I heard that there was some party near the harbor. What was that place called again…?"

"Venice Terrace?" Eli speculated. When he saw Jade nod her head he shrugged. "There's always some rich kid throwing a summer party at the beach. I normally stay here in Cheshire Square but…"

Jade gave him a small smile. "Are you trying to tell me that you would just so happen to go to a party that I have no clue how to get to?"

"Well the best way to show you how to get there is to actually show you, right?" Eli had no clue who the girl was, but he did know two things off bat. The first, and most important, he was single, and two, if he went to a party with Jade, he would be able to avoid George and his mom.

But of course, the teenage girl of sixty-six inches seemed to have other plans.

"Maybe some other time?" she offered.

"Sure," Eli replied, hiding his disappointment at her decision. "See you around."

"This is the part that you give me your name." Jade pointed out, stopping his ext.

Eli offered the girl a small smile. "Eli."

"See you around, Eli." Jade returned the smile with one of her own before heading up to the fourth floor.

This left a grinning Eli descending the steps. One could argue that he was not really over Hannah, which was a solid argument in his book. Even he could see how he shadowed over Hannah whenever he thought that something wrong was going on.

But Hannah was just a friend and Eli was in search for something a little bit more than mere friendship. Maybe not a full out relationship, but something to get his mind off of his current predicaments. And Jade seemed to be the perfect girl to help him with that.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Another brief chapter, not too much going on. But it did introduce three important faces: George, Hannah, and Jade. Of course, George is the life long friend who joins a gang (explained in the next chapter), Hannah is the ex who just wants Eli to succeed, and Jade is... Well, I'm sure many of you can guess who Jade is. Next chapter will dive into Eli's relationship with his stepdad Robert and his brother Sam, and there will be some racial tension arising, just a little FYI. Unfortunately the next chapter will not be posted for about four weeks with Raijin Gaiden chapters 1 and 2 taking up next week and the following and an Arkham Rising update plus Artemis's AuDC Showcase taking up the following weeks. But of course for this story, please leave a review or PM for any questions, comments, or thoughts that you might have and I will respond to them whenever the review corner comes up. Have yourselves a lovely day. Peace.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:** First and foremost, let me thank all of you for your patience during this crazy time in my life. I appreciate it more than any of you could imagine. Secondly, I actually have something to post. So let's get into it, shall we?

 **Chapter Warnings:** The following chapter is rated T for Teen for swearing, the use of the "N" word, and a small side of violence.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Three: Fist Party

Two days later, Eli found his sleep being disturbed by the obnoxious knocking of his mother.

"Elias!" Leila called from behind the door. "I need you to get up!"

"I'm up!" Eli shot back, annoyed already at seven in the morning. "What is it?"

"I need you to keep an eye on Sam today. If you go to your dad's you're going to have to take him with you, alright?" Eli groaned as he stared at the ceiling. "Elias, don't let him out of your sight or our deal is off of the table, understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Eli replied as he grabbed his pillow and smothered his face with it. "Just go already!"

"What?" Leila asked, unable to understand her son through the pillow and the door.

"I heard you!" Eli called louder through the fabric.

Eli lied in silence. He was tired and rightfully so. For the past two days, he had dissected the boxes that were at his father's place, reading the information there as if he was studying for an exam. As one would imagine, it was very time consuming and he found himself going to sleep during the early hours of the following mornings and waking up in the afternoon.

Or he would have if his mom had not have knocked on his door at seven in the morning!

Worse, despite his tiredness, he could not go back to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he would have images of the text that he read from the papers and laptop that charged under his bed. He saw pictures of the heroes that had died trying to fight crime and the places that the criminals that Malcolm knew about would hang out.

Information kept his mind and body from resting. He was running on four hours of sleep and yet, despite the exhaustion, felt capable of reading and learning more.

Rolling out of bed, the tired teen knelt beside his bed and reached for the laptop. After a few blind grabs, he managed to feel for the object and pull it to him. The small white light on the front of the computer indicated that it was fully charged which led him to unplug it and lie back in bed.

You're just like your mom!

Eli sighed as his father's voice played in his mind. Eli had undoubtedly adopted his mother's work ethics after the first box opening. Everything but meals and showers took a backseat to his research. A part of Eli despised the fact that he had this characteristic but did not stop it. It wasn't like he could leave his kid behind for a better life with a richer woman…

Rubbing his eyes due to a combination of the screen's brightness and fatigue, Eli logged onto the computer and began where he left off. Navigating through the files, he found the next one on his unread list; Tobias Whale.

Malcolm had stumbled upon a shift in the gangs of the New England and Mid-Atlantic States during his time as a masked crime fighter. It was rumored that there was a new crime lord that was unifying previously rivaling families and ruling the new group with an iron fist. This man was Tobias Whale, a resident of Metropolis. From what was gathered, Whale had a rather intricate drug ring and weapons stash in various places and it was rumored that he was in a three-way gang war with Gotham's notorious crime lords Black Mask and the Penguin. Malcolm assumed that Whale had ventured into New Camford for business and precaution measures and Eli felt the same way.

Tobias was using New Camford as a safe house, which had its pros and cons to Eli's understandings. The Falcone and Maroni families of Gotham City, as well as the Bertinelli crime family of New York, did not have a hold on New Camford as the two aforementioned cities. However, there were still mobs and mafias within New Camford, such as the Russian Mozgov Family.

"Oh boy…" Eli said as more information of Tobias Whale came up. "Male. African-American. Albino. Born in Metropolis, Delaware." Eli read quietly before pausing. "Wanted for the murder of Earl Clifford. Who the hell is that?"

Realizing that this was another name that he would probably have to remember, the teen rolled out of bed again, this time heading for the small work desk located in his bedroom. Grabbing the yellow notebook and pen on top, he came back to bed and opened it up to new page.

"Earl… Clifford…" Eli muttered. "Dad probably knows more about you but at the moment, I need to find out about Whale."

He had no idea why though. In the back of Eli's mind, he knew that learning about Whale or any drug lord would be completely useless to him. It wasn't like he could do anything about it other than turn this evidence in to the police and pray that they make good use of it.

Eli continued to go through the files, jotting down information every so often in his notebook while absorbing all that he could. Before he knew it, Eli could hear Sam's footsteps outside his bedroom, heading for the bathroom.

Frowning, Eli checked the time on the laptop. "Nine thirty. I really am turning into Mama."

Sighing, the adolescent sat the machine safely in the middle of his bed, his notebook next to it, and exited the bed. Stretching his arms upwards, he released a yawn and trudged for his door. Unlocking and opening it, he was met with the sight of his stepfather, Robert Nolan.

"Oh, Eli! I wasn't expecting you up so early!" Eli just glanced at the taller bald Caucasian male. "Your mom said you wouldn't be up until noon."

"She was wrong." Eli deadpanned. He so desperately wanted to point out that it was Leila who stopped him from sleeping till noon, but chose against it. "I'm going to my dad's later on and I have to take Sam with me."

"To Cheshire Square…?" It was no secret that Robert, a Harvard graduate born and raised in the luxurious part of Metropolis for most of his life, had a problem with the life style of Cheshire Square. And while Eli took some offense to the man questioning his home, he didn't necessarily blame Robert.

"Yeah. Is that okay?" Eli asked.

"Hmm," Robert stroked his black and gray beard in thought. "I don't have a problem with it. Not unless something happens."

"It's Cheshire Square. Something always happens there." Eli returned. "But I'll keep an eye out for him. In fact, I don't think we'll leave the apartment."

Robert sighed. "Alright Eli, I trust you. Do you need some money for lunch?" Eli shrugged. "I'll leave some cash on the table. I won't be back for dinner, so make sure you have him back before Lily begins calling. That won't end well for any of us!"

Eli only nodded his head, not smiling at the attempted joke about his mother. The thin man then sighs and gives Eli a leveled look, one that prepared the boy for some form of lesson or lecture.

"Eli, listen for a moment," Robert stated. "Lily… She loves you so much and it kills her that you want to put as much space between her as physically possible. Now I know that things between her and your dad didn't end well, but please, can you make it right?"

"Sure. Just let me revive the guy she left, tell him that she's sorry for putting us last, and give him a gun to shoot himself in the head for listening to such BS." Eli sardonically responded. "Is that what you want?"

"No! No, I… I don't want you to be angry at me or Lily. I want you to-"

"You will _never_ be my dad, got it?" Eli's tone had a clear threat to it, one that forced Robert to momentarily retreat.

"Fine Eli, I'll step back." Robert said. "But Lily _is_ your mother and she deserves you to be there. I feel as if you're the only one that can help her through this."

Eli shrugged. "It's not really my problem. She's my mom, not my wife. I get in trouble and you buy her things to make her happy. Those are our roles, right?"

"You're a bright kid, Eli. Just think on it, okay?" said the slender man as he stepped away.

Eli followed the man with a hardened gaze. In his mind, he knew that Robert was not the cause of Eli's parents' split nor was he the reason that Malcolm was murdered. However, Robert was a sure patsy for the two angering thoughts that clouded Eli's mind.

After Robert was out of sight, Eli followed suit, moving for the steps. Descending said stairs, Eli completed his journey to the kitchen to fix him a bowl of cereal. He wasn't in the mood for some big fancy breakfast that Leila would have prepared if given the time and he doubts that Sam would complain but so much.

"Morning Eli." Sam cheerfully said as he walks into the kitchen. "Dad says that I'm going to hang out with you today!"

Eli spared the eight year old a glance before fishing the gallon of milk out of the refrigerator. He just knew that it was going to be a _long_ day.

"So… Are we going to the park?" Sam half-way asks, half-way suggest.

"We'll see." Eli answered.

"Cool, cause I want to join a team like you but Coach Madison says that I need to work on my jump shot and since you can help me I figured-"

"Sam, calm down." Eli cut off. "You're giving me a headache."

"Sorry…"

Eli completed his bowl and stared at his brother's downcast expression. Like Eli, Sam had a lot of his respective father's physical characteristics as well. Sam was thin and his skin was barely tanned at all, easily passable as Caucasian despite his mixed heritage which contrasted Eli's tanned complexion that was only slightly darker than their mother's. Sam's curly hair was always quite the mess yet, despite Leila's clear dislike for long hair, was never cut to Eli's shaven lengths.

In hindsight, Eli could see that Sam was the America that his mother wanted while Eli and his darkened mind and body was the Bialya that she so hopelessly attempted to leave behind.

"I need to look for some jobs," Eli voiced to Sam as Eli walked towards the small circular table located in the kitchen. "But afterwards, we can go shoot around if the court isn't packed, alright?" Sam's blue eyes- also inherited from Robert- glimmered with glee and he nodded vigorously. "Alright. Eat a bowl of cereal and get freshened up. It's a long bus ride to the Square."

"Alright!" Sam cheered. It was at the moment that Robert came in to check on the boys as well as hand Eli some money. "We're going to Crinkly's Dad! Eli's going to help me shoot better!"

Robert gave his son a warm smile. "Well aren't you lucky to have a brother like that? My brother's normally gave me a wedgie and left me to be!"

Eli silently watched the interaction between father and son, anger slowly boiling inside of him again. In another world, it was Robert who decided to be a masked vigilante and died while Eli got to play the role of the son with a dad.

"Eli?" Eli's eyes snapped up to meet Robert's blue ones. The man was currently extending forty dollars towards Eli. "For lunch."

"Thanks." Eli said quietly as he grabbed the money.

"Sam," Robert gained the younger boy's attention. "Don't forget to take your phone with you. Just in case."

"Okay!" Sam answered while Eli glowered at the man. Once more, Eli did not blame Robert's caution but he certainly did not like that it was voiced.

"I'm gone. If Lily calls, tell her it'll be a late night." Robert said as he exits the kitchen.

Eli sat quietly, silently eating his cereal while watching Sam carefully make a bowl of Frosted Flakes like his older brother. There were no words to explain why, but Eli felt like telling Sam everything the boy was doing wrong before making another bowl just to set an example.

Instead, Eli simply watched quietly, even after Sam spilled quite a bit of milk.

"Crap!" Sam was heard whispering, a laugh coming from Eli. "Um…"

"Fix your bowl Sam." Eli instructed, a grin on his face as he thought about the times that he had failed to make a bowl of cereal and his parents- normally his mom- would be the one correcting his elbows or not to pour too fast like Sam had just done.

Sighing Eli, looked down at his cereal to bury those thoughts.

It was going to be a _long_ day.

* * *

Crinkly Park was always crowded in the summer for all the right and wrong reasons. It was the ideal place for children to go to play but was also the most common place to find some illicit drug deal going down. And while most gang brawls in Cheshire Square occurred at this particular recreational center, it also housed the promising youth team, the Crinkly Sabers.

Stepping onto the caged concrete basketball court, Eli looked around before dribbling the ball he had brought with him. There was a game going on, on the court next to him which meant that he and Sam would have to be careful not to interfere in the slightly intense game.

"Hey! Eli!" George called from the metal bleachers. Eli gave Sam the ball while George flanked by two others approached him. Eli did not necessarily know the two taller teens with George, just noting that while they were both taller than Eli, one was noticeably thin and the other along the chubby lines. "What's good bruh? We missed you the other day."

Eli sighed. "I had to do something."

"Right, right, straighten shit up and all that," George stated before eying Sam. "Moms got you watching the other brother, huh?"

"Do you think he'd be here if she hadn't?" replied Eli, watching Sam miss a shot. "Damn boy has no hope in this game, you know? I'm just going to shoot around a bit, tire him out, then head back up to the apartment."

"Fo sho'," George said before putting an arm around Eli's shoulder. "Nigga, lemme holla at you for a sec. See, today is Friday so tonight is Friday night. You and I will be at a party, see?"

Eli shrugged George's arm off. "Can't. Need to find a job and then return him home before my mama finds a way to make my life any worse."

"She ain't one of those Al-Qaeda niggas, is she?" Eli, once again, gave George a warning glare. "Right, right, I forgot. No one disrespects your mom but you." Eli stepped away from the trio and neared Sam with George following. "Anyway man, Eric says that there's something going down on Saints Row. The way I figured, I could get you and your stingy friend to show up."

Eli snorted. "Hannah won't show up just because I'm there. She hates your brother." Eli then sighed at Sam's fourth missed shot. "You're not following through with your shot."

"Okay!" Sam replied as he chased down his missed shot and quickly ran to set up another one. "Like this?"

Eli sighed as he watched Sam miss again, this time getting the rebound before Sam could. He spotted George shaking his head while twisted a small lock of hair.

"Look," Eli said as he lined up a shot. "Get your feet set. Already have it in your head where you're at and don't over think the shot. Remember that your hips and legs are needed as well for the perfect jump shot. Most people think it's all in the wrist, but trust me, I've blocked a lot of shots when guys want to stay planted on the ground."

"Nigga you sound like Coach Mack!" George joked.

Eli let the verbal jab about his old coach rub off of him and eyed Sam.

"Once you feel comfortable, shoot." Eli said before taking a shot, banking it off of the backboard. "See how easy that was?"

George scoffed. "You used backboard. Your shot ain't shit."

"Coming from the guy that didn't make the team," Eli joked back. "I'd say my shot was ten-times better than yours on an off day."

"Yeah, yeah, speaking of that," George continued, dropping his hand to his side. "Now that you're up on the other side, you playing for them now or us?"

Eli only shrugged. Once more, he had no idea why his brotherly instincts always seem to kick in at odd times, but he really did not want Sam to feel inferior to him due to racial issues. While they were both half-Bialyan, they were literally black and white opposites of each other. George, and quite a few others, pointed it out every day. Eli on the other hand never seemed to bring it up around Sam to avoid Leila from growing angrier at him.

"Hey Eli!" One of Eli's former teammates called out to him from the other outside court. "We need a fifth. You in?"

"Yeah," Eli replied before eying Sam. "Stay here and work on your shot alright? I'm going to play this game and then we need to head back to the apartment, got it?"

"Okay…" From his response, Eli could tell that Sam was a bit saddened at the fact that Eli had chosen to go play with the other teens there.

Eli grunted. "Stop pouting already and make a freaking shot." Eli turned before adding, "Mama's made you so soft…"

He did not check to see if Sam heard him or not, and honestly, he could not have cared less. Sam lived a luxurious life and had never gotten into a serious fist fight in his life while Eli was nearly the opposite. In Eli's mind, his brother needed to toughen up some times.

"Alright, game to sixteen." Eli heard. "Ready?"

Eli simply nodded. He needed this. He needed a break from death and costumed men and women trying to make a difference. He needed a break from his rich stepdad and always annoyed mom. For once this summer, Eli just wanted to be Elias Jackson, seventeen year old boy from Cheshire Square, New Camford.

However…

"Hey!"

Eli stopped midway through the game when he heard Sam shout in distress. Looking over to where his brother was at, he found the two guys that were with George earlier cornering Sam with George standing nearby.

"Fucking hell," Eli grunted before he made his way over to the teen grabbing Sam by his collar. "Hey! What the hell's going on?!"

"This don't concern you man," George began as he stepped towards Eli. "This is between-"

"Shut the hell up George." Eli snapped before forcefully turning one of the other guys around. "What the hell do you think you're doing picking on the kid? Leave him alone."

"He called me a nigga." Eli's eyes widened. Once more, it was no secret that Sam was half-Caucasian and thus using the "N" word, especially in Cheshire Square, was highly problematic.

"He called me that word first!" Sam protested, being shoved against the fence. "Ow!"

"Alright, alright," Eli said pulling the second, and larger, guy away from Sam. "He's just eight, okay? He doesn't know what that word means. So just back off and-"

"Who the hell is listening to yo bitch ass? Why don't you be like your pops and jump off a roof or something?" The larger male shot back.

Before Eli had time to process his next action, he had swiftly punched the larger male with a quick right jab. More punches were thrown, each of them landing on the larger boy's face. Eli could feel it, every time his fist connected with the larger guy's jaw or chin, that the original aggressor was slowly losing his balance and probably consciousness. However, before Eli could go in for the proverbial kill, a pair of arms wrapped around him and Eli found himself being slammed by the second, scrawny guy.

"Not so tough now, huh bitch?!"

Eli covered himself as heavy fists rained down on him. Again, this was not Eli's first fight. He knew that he just had to endure the blows until the guy grew tired and then react. Of course, in order to react to a tired opponent, Eli first had to make sure that he was alright enough to last the blows. Again, this was another lesson he had received from his deceased father.

"Ay man, get off of him." George finally steps in. "Your beefs with the kid, not Eli."

If ever there was a moment that Eli legitimately hated George, it was now. Despite the punches stopping, Eli now how to worry that his half-brother was about to receive the beating of a lifetime.

"Leave me alone!" Sam was heard again, causing Eli to groan.

Earlier he thought that Robert was the perfect fall guy to take his anger out on. Now he was certain that he had found a better target.

"Hey asshole," Eli said as he rose to his feet. "You forgot something."

Sam watched in awe as his brother charged the tall skinny teen and leap into the air. With one solid superman punch, a move used by one of Sam's all-time favorite wrestlers Roman Reigns, Eli had effectively knocked the other guy out causing Sam to gasp.

Eli spat some of his blood on the ground, staring at the on-looking crowd.

"Anyone else want to fight my brother?!" He was angry and was nowhere near releasing all of it. "Huh?! Anyone?!"

"Yo man, chill out. You just knocked out-"

"Shut the fuck up George!" Eli snapped as he stepped towards his longtime friend. "You've been bitching about my mama and brother for a long time and I've been _itching_ to punch you in the damn face for it!"

There was an eerie silence that followed; one loud enough that caused Eli to look around at the damage he had caused. The larger teen who he had been punching in the face prior to being slammed was being checked on by some of the guys he had been playing basketball with moments earlier. The skinnier boy was desperately trying to pick himself off of the ground, gasping and moaning in agony, while others attempted to keep him down to regain full consciousness.

Gazing at Sam, he saw his startled brother wiping some tears from his eyes. Staring at him, Eli was thrown back to the conversation he had with his mom days ago.

Did he have that monster inside of him that Leila had seen inside of Malcolm? No. Firstly, it didn't exist… Right…? No, it didn't. It _couldn't_. He lived with the man and saw nothing, just an ordinary man going about his ordinary day.

…But Malcolm wasn't ordinary, was he? He was secretly the Army Ant and had done so right under Eli's nose. He had information on villains and heroes that resided within the city and then some. So maybe Leila was being honest? Maybe there was a different side to Malcolm that Eli was better off not seeing?

"Get the ball, let's go." Eli said to Sam.

Sam immediately moved to do just that leaving Eli to believe that he may have indeed inherited something that was not genetically inheritable. Eli then glanced at the others who were slowly moving away from him.

He was not crazy.

He was not a monster.

He was not Bialya.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Eli muttered to Sam.

The two brothers left the area with Sam doing his best to keep up with Eli's quick pace. Both continued to look around themselves to see if they were being followed by any more of George's friends. Eli knew that Mil Santos Boulevard- better known to the residents of New Camford as Saints Row- was simply a street over and was home to the gang that George and his older brother, Eric, were a part of. Sam did not know the severity of his and Eli's actions earlier, but Eli did and was now on high alert.

Saints Row was not the most pleasant street in New Camford, or even Connecticut in general. It was the gang that this street produced combined with the failed vigilantes that originate in the area that gave Cheshire Square its bad reputation.

"Eli," Sam said quietly as the two crossed the street, Eli barely stopping to check for any traffic. "I'm sorry…"

Eli paused once they were safely on the sidewalk and turned on his brother.

"What the hell were you doing saying that word anyway?!" Eli burst. Sam meekly shrugged his shoulders, his eyes signifying that he was about to cry once more. "Christ Sam! You just pissed off the entire block!"

"I'm-"

"What? Sorry?" Eli angrily interrupted. He lowered himself so he was glaring directly into his brother's blue eyes. "Sorry doesn't change what you said. Sorry doesn't stop them from having a problem with me for saving you! And I swear to God if we didn't share the same mom, it'd be you lying on that court getting help to stand up instead of them!"

Sam seemed to flinch with each spiteful word that flew out of Eli's mouth, but the teen could not have cared less. Today should have been a rather smooth day with him searching for jobs and relaxing. Instead, he now had to find some way to get the Saints Row Children, the gang that ran Saints Row and pretty much all of Cheshire Square, off of his back for the remainder of the summer.

But seeing Sam's torn expression made Eli realize that his brother probably didn't understand any of this. Then again, the boy was eight and not all too well versed in street knowledge.

"Just keep quiet and don't say anything to anyone, got it?" Sam nodded at Eli's words. "Let's go."

The pair continued their trek back to Eli's apartment without speaking to one another. The silence did its job in calming Eli down a bit as well as giving him time to think about his next move. He figured that he would have to do George a "favor" later on to make things right, though that did not necessarily mean that Sam was going to be welcomed back into Crinkly Park without some resistance.

Again, not that Eli necessarily cared.

Soon the journey was over and Eli led Sam into the apartment building he called home. After hastily retrieving the mail, Eli traversed up to the third floor and practically dragged Sam into the apartment before slamming and locking the door behind him.

"Go in the back and play a game or something. I'll order a pizza." Eli commented. Sam, however, did not move. "Go!"

"Why?" Child logic, Eli told himself. Every child that he had dealt with in history had used the "Why" question to get a better understanding of the world around them. And every child that he has dealt with that had used this logic- which would be _all of them_ \- has annoyed him greatly with it.

"Because I said so." Eli barked. "Now go!"

"It's because I'm white, isn't it?" Sam said quietly, viewing the floor in front of him as he spoke.

"What? No. Where'd you get that from?" Eli was genuinely concerned now. Not because he thought Sam hated him, but because if this conversation got anywhere near his mother's ears, there would be hell to pay.

"That's what George said." Sam still refused to look his older brother in the eye and was now cradling the basketball in his hands as if it was a support line or something. "George said that no one wants my white A-S-S around."

Eli huffed heavily. "Sam, you're not just white, alright? It's like I'm not just black. Mama makes us both half-Bialyan."

"That's not better," Now Sam's voice held some of his inner anger, something Eli has rarely heard before. "They're terrorists!"

"No they're not," Eli said before adding, "Not all of them at least." Realizing that there was something much bigger than what he originally thought, Eli stepped towards Sam. "Has anyone ever said that to you?" Sam stood frigid. "Sam, has anyone given you a hard time because Mama is Bialyan?"

"They said…" Sam began. "They said that she was going to blow our house up."

"If she does, believe me, she's just mad." Eli replied. Seeing Sam's eyes snap up to him in horror, he realized that that may have not been the best response. "I'm kidding Sam. Mama wouldn't blow our house up- or anything else for that matter. Now go back there and play a game while I try to find a way to make this better for all of us."

"Why," Sam said again, now looking directly into Eli's eyes. "Why can't I say that word but you and George can?"

"…" Eli figured that there was no real way to explain the double-standards to an eight year old kid, especially considering that said kid was his brother. "Because…"

"Because you're black, right?"

"Yeah…" Eli was unsure that was the right answer to give Sam despite it being the only answer he could give to anyone. "Sam, do you remember learning about slavery in school?" Sam nods his head. "Okay, well that word had a different meaning back then and it was used to make blacks seem like… Less than important."

Sam frowned. "But why does George call _everyone_ that?"

"Because he's an idiot." Eli saw a small smile on Sam's face and thanked God that he was finally breaking the depression cloud that had followed the duo back to the apartment. "Look, that word is bad no matter who says it, alright? It's just that some people- blacks at that- have a problem when anyone but another black says it, especially a white guy, got it?"

Sam seemed to take a moment to digest the information, which caused Eli to mentally cross his fingers. If he could squash this conversation here and now, then the only thing he had to worry about was hiding their scars, which was impossible.

Finally the kid nodded his head. "I think I got it." Eli was literally about to cheer until Sam gave him another interrogating look. "Do you think your dad would have beat them up if he was alive like Batman?"

Eli blinked. Now he really did not have an answer. He had never even heard of Army Ant, let alone knew what the guy did. If alive, would Army Ant have come to their rescue or was he too busy searching for Tobias Whale's contacts? Would Malcolm have come to his son's rescue?

Shaking his head, Eli answered his brother. "I don't know Sam. Now go play."

"Okay. I just wish my daddy was a superhero." Sam commented as he walked down the hall.

"No you don't." Eli quietly responded as he looked at the ceiling. "Believe me…"

* * *

Thump!

An hour later, Sam had played himself to sleep, leaving Eli's _Mortal Kombat_ on as he dozed off on his older brother's bed. Eli had ordered pizza as he had promised and set up the dart board that his father kept. Again, throwing darts was one of the bar games that Eli had learned earlier in his life by the man that was currently plaguing his thoughts and it did its job at keeping him calm and collected.

Thump!

"Bulls-eye," Eli muttered to himself when he hit the target.

Eli looked at the circular board that was currently held up against the front door. There was a time that hitting the center was a task that a young Eli always wanted to do but never achieved it. Now he could hit it at will so long as he was within a certain range.

Walking over to the door from his original spot in front of the sofa, Eli's peace was disturbed when someone knocked on his door. Given the fact that Leila and Robert were still at work and the pizza man had already come and gone, there were only so many people who should be knocking on his door. Unfortunately, one of them so happened to be George.

"Eli, are you there?" Thankfully it was just Hannah, and with a breath of relief, he opened the door to see his ex. "Oh my… What were you thinking?"

Eli frowned before he remembered his facial features. The bruise and split lip- which had stopped bleeding- was much too obvious for him to deny. He did find it odd that Hannah had already gotten the news about what happened at the park earlier.

Eli blew out a heavy breath. "Apparently Sam called someone a nigga and George's guys flipped." Eli saw Hannah's shocked reaction. "Yeah, I know. The kid could recite the Declaration of Independence if someone said it."

"Wow… Carla said you beat Mike pretty badly before knocking Josh out with a single punch." Hannah recounted.

"I guess it went down like that. A part of me was worried that Sam could get hurt worse and my dear caring mother would kill me for it." Hannah grinned at this. "I don't know what to tell her though. I doubt the truth will be comforting. Then again, I think I'm all out of bullshit."

Giving Eli a pleasant smile, the short girl replied. "You'll think of something Eli. FYI, I didn't date you just on looks alone."

Eli had a witty comeback but his eyes caught something- _someone_ \- else moving behind Hannah. That person was Jade and, from the looks of it, she was quite hooked onto Eli's gaze. Or maybe he was hooked onto hers? Either way, her emerald eyes kept his brown ones locked until she made her way up to the fourth floor, a ghost of a smile on her features.

"Who was that?" Hannah asked. Eli looked at noticed that Hannah was currently eying Jade's retreating figure which raised several flags inside of his mind.

"Uh, Jade, I think," His response gained him an interrogative glance. "She's new. I met her a few days ago." He paused. "I was supposed to show her Venice Terrace but I didn't."

"She's cute." Hannah offhandedly said. Eli only bobbed his head back and forth, already predicting where this conversation was going. "Has George seen her? I mean, you know how you two can be about women."

"No, he hasn't, and no, I don't know how we can be about women." Eli answered in an offended tone.

"Oh, you know. Your little 'slump busters' or whatever." Eli scoffed at Hannah's words. "Don't give me that Eli. Just tell me right here, right now, that I won't walk in on you two screwing in an alley or something."

"First, Hannah, you are the _only_ girl I've had sex with," Eli pointed out. "And secondly, I have an entire apartment to myself. Why would I use an alley?"

"Eli…"

"Fine, fine," Eli relented after realizing that his joke did not go over as well as he had hoped. "I promise that if anything should happen between me and Jade, you'll be the first to know. Are you happy now?" When Hannah nodded, Eli stepped aside to allow her to enter his apartment. "You're something else Hannah, you really are."

Hannah stepped by him and entered the place that was filled with the aroma of pepperoni and sausage pizza, Sam's choice. The girl seemed to look around for something out of place, something she always seemed to do, before taking a seat on the sofa.

"So," Eli said closing the door to remove the darts from the board. "Carla called you and you came rushing to see if I was going for round two with those guys?"

"Or," countered the girl pointedly. "I got worried that you might be the next SRC victim. You might be from Cheshire, but you do not live on Saints Row."

Eli hummed with detestation. "I know. And worse, I have to dumb it down to Perry the Parrot back there."

"How is he? They didn't hurt him too badly, did they?" Hannah questioned with legitimate concern.

"I think I took most of the beaten for him, thanks for your concern." Eli bites back sardonically. "And to be honest, if he had just kept quiet and went on about his own damn business, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"He's just a kid Eli," snapped Hannah. "Do you really expect him to know these sorts of things? Do you remember when my uncle called you a gringo and you had no idea what that was?" Eli waved Hannah off, going back to the other side of the room to throw his darts again. "You can't blame him for this Eli. George and his brother's gang are out of control, you know that."

"They haven't bothered me so-"

"Because you're black!" Hannah shot at him, throwing her arms in the air. "It's a different story for you. They think that you're one of them or will join them later." Once again, Eli ignored her outburst as best as he could and lined himself up with the board, now tossing the darts over the coffee table in the living room. "Eli, you know that I'm right. Carla and I? We have to deal with their BS every other day. You? You get by with nothing but a nod of their heads."

"Well I can't change their opinions, now can I?" Eli asked as he lifelessly tossed a dart at the board with his left hand, hitting the double ring beneath the number four. "Huh. Not bad."

Hannah sighs. "Look, all I'm saying is that the SRC is twisting the whole Black Lives Matter movement and turning it to a new level of racism. To them it's not just black lives matter, it's now everyone else's don't. And that's not what the movement is about."

"You know, for a Mexican, you know a lot about American black politics." Eli jokingly commented.

"I'm from New York." Hannah bitterly replied.

Eli smiled. "I know Hannah. But I seriously don't know what you want me to do about. Talk to Eric? Get George to talk to Eric for me?" Eli pauses and snorts. "Listen, I'm as fearless as the next idiot you can find, but I'm not challenging the entire SRC because they throw a few words your way. Ignore them and keep going about your day."

"Right, right, I'll ignore the ten guys that have me cornered in an alleyway that wants to rape me. I'm sure that'll work _perfectly_." Hearing her clearly now, even while trying to ignore her, Eli looked to see Hannah lean back on the couch with her left leg crossed over her right and her arms crossed. "You're a real piece of _something_ Eli. I just wished that you weren't."

"Hannah, Sam broke the unsaid rule about the 'N' word and I stopped him from paying the consequences. Those guys on Saints Row aren't just looking for him, but me as well. So I don't know why you're all pissy like they're coming for you, but this is how I deal with it." Eli stated. "Besides, black or not, they'll come to make evens with me. I know that much about them."

"And why is that? Because some kid said something that they didn't like?" Eli gave up trying to argue with her and went back to his darts. "If this was a white officer gunning down some black kid you'd care."

"Haven't cared yet." Eli honestly replied as he took aim for the triple ring.

"He's your brother." Hannah pleaded.

"My _half_ -brother and if it was up to me, he wouldn't be that." Eli responded as he prepared the throw.

"Malcolm would have stopped them." Eli's throw was misaimed, hitting the door above the board.

"Why'd you say that?" he all but bellowed to the girl.

"Say what?" Hannah innocently asked.

" _That_!" Eli shouted. "You know, you _know_ , how I feel about my dad being some costume freak and you're just throwing it in my face. I'm not him, alright! And I damn sure never want to be!"

"Why?" Hannah quipped. "If you exclude yourself, who or what do you have to live for?" The comment caused Eli to gape at his ex girlfriend. "You're never thinking about your future or anyone else but yourself, so the way I see it, it _should_ be you out there putting your life on the line. At least you'll mean something to someone else other than Sam."

"That's the dirtiest shit I've ever heard from you." Eli told her.

"It's true." Hannah said as she sat up. "You are, to Sam at least, the greatest thing in the world. Even I see how he looks at you. But you treat him and me and everyone else like crap. Even before your dad died, you were training so _you_ could be the best on the basketball team. You've never asked me if I needed help studying, only coming to me when it was convenient and beneficial for you. And now you walk around like you're the only one that misses Malcolm and you're not."

Eli bit his tongue as this was the third time he had heard something like this. Mallory had said it first with his mother being second. The difference between the three times was the people behind the statement. Mallory, being Eli's closest living relative, was known to pal around or joke to him. Her statement, no matter how sincere, could be taken as a lie, even though he knew it wasn't. Leila was someone who Eli only listened to because she was his mother. When she said it, he just brushed it off as an annoying concerned mother.

But Hannah has never lied to Eli, well never on this level. She was always quite open about her feelings to him and has always given him the best advice that she could. So that left him with one thought in mind:

Was he really that selfish?

"Sit," Hannah said patting the seat beside her. Begrudgingly, Eli did as she requested and found himself being pulled into a tight embrace. "Lie here with me, okay? I don't like fighting with you. Even if you are a bit thick."

"At least one of us is…" Eli joked, only to be playfully pushed by the girl. "I'm only kidding Hannah. I like your small curves."

"Oh? Are they better than, say, Jade's?"

Eli only laughed with his friend. This was how their relationship was. They could be close from practically beating each other one moment and then laughing it off a minute later. It was an odd thing, especially after the pair had called a quits to their romantic affairs, but it worked well for them.

The two shifted on the couch in the midst of their laughter, ending up on their sides with Hannah safely in Eli's embrace. Eli figured that to every other normal person in the world, this was a sign of physical affection and nothing more. To any other guy that lived in this area, holding Hannah like this would be a sign that she was ready to go to the next level of intimacy.

But it wasn't.

This was simply Hannah comforting Eli and Eli accepting it. It was how it was supposed to be- in his opinion of course- considering that Hannah was the only one who would selflessly try to understand Eli whenever she calmed him. His dad was now deceased, Leila was too blunt and formal, and Mallory had her moments where she just did not care enough to comfort anyone.

Thus, regardless if sex was ever on the table or not, Eli would always enjoy moments he shared with Hannah like this one.

"Hi Hannah!"

That is, he would enjoy moments like this with Hannah whenever Sam would stay asleep.

* * *

Leila was pissed. Eli knew she would be and he was only glad that she was making dinner at the time when the two boys arrived home. With the food on the stove forcing Leila to stay near the kitchen, Eli was able to go into his room, turn on the laptop, and pretend to be listening to music with the headset that came with it.

Once again, bullshitting had its moments of usefulness.

That was hours ago though. Now Eli sat on the back porch past midnight, staring into the starry sky. It was relatively dark in Mancastle Hills which gave him a better chance to see the heavenly balls of gas above him unlike it was in Cheshire Square. Sure, it got dark during the nighttime, but there were literally too many streetlights for it to be the night sky to be this clear.

Hearing the backdoor slide open, Eli prepared himself for a lecture. Robert had yet returned home- something that Leila had also nitpicked about- and Sam was currently deep asleep. This gave the Bialyan woman the perfect opportunity to converse with Eli along and the American boy despised that greatly.

"I don't want George around Sam, understood?" Eli simply nodded, refusing to look at the woman at all. "I can't stop you from making your life into whatever hell you want to, but I won't let Sam go down that same path."

Eli snorted. "Might want to teach him common courtesy then."

"Is this coming from a boy who can't even look his mother in the eye?" The comment caused Eli to turn his glaring brown eyes to meet the same intense stare from his mother. "What were you thinking Elias?"

"I was simply playing a game of basketball with some guys from the team. _Your son_ thought it'd be a great idea to mimic everything he hears and it got _me_ into some seriously sh… Trouble." Eli said. He was sure Leila caught the near slip-up but she chose not to say anything about it. Weird. "Now I probably have the entire SRC patrolling the apartment waiting for me."

The woman of forty-five took a seat next to Eli in an empty lawn chair. For once, Eli could see the exhaustion on his mother's face. Her brown skin, only slightly lighter than his, seemed to sag around her eyes from the hours of work and apparent worry that she endured on a daily basis. He was expecting her to pull a cigarette out of her nightgown- though he tried hard not to think where she could have hidden one beneath- and light up in front of him again. Instead, she just took in a deep breath and closed her eyes.

"I'm worried about you Eli." Leila voiced. "I know earlier wasn't your fault- nor was it Sam's- but you could have gotten out of there without fighting. Truth is, I believe that you wanted someone to take your anger out on."

"I could have just been saving your son." Eli pointed out.

Leila gave him a warning glare. "You are both my sons, Elias. And by saving Sam, you put yourself in danger."

"Well what was I supposed to do? Those guys were pissed and Sam shouldn't have said what he said." retorted the teenager.

"I wanted you to get you both out of their without physical confrontation," Leila admonished. Eli scoffed at her statement and looked away. "But," Eli gave his mother a glance out of the corner of his eyes. "You did what I expected you to do."

"Right, because I'm the son from the ghetto with no home training. All I know how to do is fight and-"

"No, you are not." Again, Leila's voice was very heavy and seemed to force Eli to withdraw into himself out of reflex. "I expected you to fight because you're so angry all the time. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

Eli sat quietly, turning his attention away from his mother at the moment. She was right. He was looking for someone to unleash his anger out on and the opportunity was just too appealing to turn it down. He argued- mentally of course- that anyone would have done the same thing in his position.

"I don't want you to think that I'm not thankful for, not only protecting Sam, but standing up for your brother, because I am," Leila suddenly announced. "But I do want you to know that I do worry about you, probably more than I should."

"Uh-huh…" Eli breathes out. "I guess I should apologize for that too, shouldn't I?"

To Eli's surprise, Leila giggles quietly. "You remind me so much of myself, Elias. It's a wonder how Malcolm was able to keep you under control."

Eli honestly had no idea how to respond. The statement held a degrading meaning to it, making him feel like a juvenile delinquent who constantly got in trouble. However, Leila said it in such a lighthearted tone while comparing herself to her son that Eli found that his mom meant for it to be a joke or a trivial deduction. Either way, he remained quiet until she calmed down in hopes that she would explain.

"I forget, sometimes, that while my sons have a lot of their respectful fathers' physical attributes that you, Elias, share a lot of my mental attributes." Leila commented as she calmed down from her laughter. Soon she took a thoughtful glance upwards. "Maybe that's why…"

"Why what?" Eli finally broke his silence in need of answers. "Maybe what's why?" Leila gave Eli a narrow-eyed glance before closing her eyes and shaking her head. "Why can't you tell me?"

"Because," the woman with closed eyes spoke. "You're not ready. You're still too angry. It's best if you just let it go."

"I can't do that. You know that." Eli pointed out, gaining a small uncharacteristic shrug of the shoulders from Leila. He did not know whether shrug meant that she agreed with Eli or if she did not care altogether. And that annoyed him more.

Eli grunted when Leila apparently seemed to end the conversation right there. Whatever it was that she knew that he didn't was bothering him greatly. He wanted- no he _had_ to know. The fact that Leila knew how badly her son wanted the information and yet refused to give it to him only fueled his fire to find out on his own. That would, not only give him the answer that he was looking for, but also bragging rights that he obtain said answers on his own.

Soon Leila looked back at Eli, the sudden action causing the boy to momentarily freeze up. His mother had always had a somewhat heavy gaze, making the even the strongest of businessmen and women relent to her or her clients' wishes with a simply glance. During the last three years, Eli had limited the number of times that he and his mom made direct eye contact like this for that very reason. She broke him down mentally and it startled him.

However, her eyes at this moment did not break his will and defiance down like they had earlier. They had not stricken him with some unseen blow that would normally cause him to retract a statement or lower his tone of voice. Instead, they seemed somewhat inviting and caring. It was almost as if he was knocked back to his five year old self and was relaxing in the arms of his mother during thunderstorms.

"Are you alright, Elias?" Leila's question caused Eli to blink. How long was in that trance? "Maybe you should get some sleep."

"I'm fine." Eli snapped back in a low tone, looking away from his mom.

"Are you su-"

"I'm fine." Eli interrupted before the woman could finish her statement. Feeling the mood in the atmosphere shift, Eli rose from his seat. "I'm going to go lie down. I'll try not to do anything that causes Sam to get hurt or you to smoke."

"…" Leila seemingly had no response. Eli figured that he may have caused this gentle moment to go sour but his mother spoke before he could apologize. "Get some rest Elias. We'll talk tomorrow, I suppose."

He knew it. He fucked up. That was the only way to word this situation. In this rare moment where Leila Rassan had actually laughed, Eli would ultimately find some way to screw it up. Why? Because he was caught staring? Because Leila had recommended him to get some sleep? Or was it really because he was as angry as she said he was; angry for almost no reason at all.

"I'm sorry." The apology was almost inaudible for even Eli and it was him speaking. Thankfully, his mom seemed to hear it as she gave him a small nod of acknowledgement.

"I know Elias. Just get some rest."

He hadn't meant to snap at her. He badly wanted to tell Leila that as he reentered the house. He hadn't meant to snap. It was a reflex, honestly. Years of growing distance- distance that she had started mind you- between the two of them had just cultivated an uneasiness that was always best avoided. Motherly statements such as "I love you" were never outright said by Leila and son responses such as "Goodnight Mom" were never thought of by Eli. For nearly ten years, this was the norm.

So what had happened outside? Eli figured it was her closing in on him. Affection was something Leila only showed Sam, and at times Robert too, but Eli was an obligation. He was not used to her being thankful or her laughing. Sure she's been proud of him before, but she only said it, never really showed it like she was closed to doing just now.

Therefore, Eli concluded, this was _her_ fault. Leila knew that Eli was not used to seeing her on a daily basis, never mind her laughing. How did she expect him to respond to her laughter or her staring at him? Of course he would have a problem with it, he wasn't used to it. And she knew it. She always knew it.

Returning to his bedroom, he closed the door and rested his back against it.

"Work," Eli said to himself. "I need to continue working."

He was becoming like his mother, something he reminded himself again as he grabbed the notebook he had been writing in, one of his father's notebooks that he had obtained the previous day, pen, and finally the laptop beneath his bed. Work was beginning to be his escape from real-life events. At one point, sports and video games held this honor. But now, it was diving into his father's findings and trying to solve a problem no one else seemed to be interested in doing.

He, Elias Jackson, was becoming exactly like his mother, Leila Rassan. Worse, he liked it.

It was an odd revelation at first. Eli had never been one to particularly like studying nor was he one to do it as often as others like Hannah, but this was different. He could only metaphorically compare it to finally finding his way out of a cave. With each new piece of information, the light at the end of the tunnel became clearer and brighter. The trek to finding out who killed Miles and why would soon be over and Eli would finally be able to rest easier.

He paused in his thoughts.

Leila had asked him when he first arrived. She had clearly asked him if there was anything to she could do to make this easier on him and he, in rage, outwardly shunned her for it.

"Focus," Eli told himself, his brown eyes meeting the screen again as he opened another file. "Sapphire Stagg, daughter of Simon Stagg. She's the Chief Operating Officer of Stagg Robotics as well as a board member of Stagg Enterprises. Dad's former boss." Eli paused as he wrote down the woman's name and occupation in his notebook. "Why was she a person of interest?"

Much like Tobias Whale, Eli figured that there was something about Sapphire or her activities that garnered Miles's suspicion. However, it was much easier to figure out why a known drug dealer would draw question from a hero- a _wannabe_ hero- instead of thinking of the multiple ways of why a COO of a company owned by her father would make this list.

Maybe she was a hero or aiding Army Ant somehow? He did have some Stagg equipment.

Eli marked Sapphire's page with a giant question mark in the upper left-hand corner and continued with the next file.

"Alexander Wyvern, alias, the Bookworm," Eli read quietly before jotting the information down on a new page in his notebook. After he finished with the man's name, he continued reading the screen. "Says he's from Gotham City. A serial killer that escaped from Blackgate and ending up living somewhere in New Camford. Has already killed fifteen people ranging from fifteen to forty-eight. Rumored to have killed more."

Eli took a break from reading and jotted down the man's height and weight. He scanned through the information presented on the laptop before opening his father's bulky notebook. Flipping through the pages, Eli soon found a picture matching the one on the screen and read on.

"Dad apparently thought Bookworm lived somewhere in Venice Terrace. The guy must have some money." Eli noted. "His MO seems to be against people against reading? What a joke." Eli then came across another fact that caused his eyes to widen. "He killed over a hundred people in Gotham, two while in prison? Maybe he isn't a joke after all…"

Eli continued reading on Alexander Wyvern, finding out more and more about the serial killer from Gotham City. However, the more he read into this Bookworm character, the more he could hear his mother reading to him as she did when he was a child. And pretty soon he was reliving the Friday nights when his dad would rent a VHS from the old Blockbuster down the street and he and his parents would watch the movie. Normally, said movie was the adaptation of a book the Leila had read to Eli such as the _Jungle Book_ or _Aladdin_.

Eli shook his head.

"Focus Eli, focus." he scolded himself before taking in a deep breath and looking back at the screen. "You need to finish this."

Those were the words that returned his attention back to Bookworm and Tobias Whale. That was the mantra needed for him to read up on everything his father had on Sapphire Stagg. This was the diversion he desperately used to once more bury the happier times of his childhood until they resurfaced again.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** So here is chapter three, I hope you liked it. Hopefully you can't tell that it was rushed too much (I know the fight scene shows it) but other than that, I hope it is up to par. Anyway, about Eli's physical attributes. I want more about Eli to be revealed as more about the city is revealed. In other words, the more you learn about the city, the more you learn about Eli and vice versa. This will help establish both before midpoint of the story. Again, Hannah and George play quite the role in Eli's character development as well as Sam and Leila (not so much Robert). Next chapter introduces one of the two men that train Eli (one trains Eli's mind, the other his body), who just so happens to be Jade's mystery god-father. Can you guess who it is? If you do, or have any other questions, comments, or thoughts, leave a review or PM and I will respond to it during the next review corner. Until then, peace.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Notes:** Sorry about the last past few months. It honestly has been one crazy ride for me and I hope that no one has completely lost interest in any of the three ongoing stories that I have here. I will try to post again this weekend by nothing is really written in stone yet. As for now, here is the next chapter. Enjoy.

 **Chapter Warnings:** The following chapter is rated "T" for Teen for swearing and the use of the "N" word.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Four: Catch a Tiger

The next day was Saturday and Eli still found himself working some way, somehow. He was currently at his apartment, doing online applications for various jobs that would hire a high school student within the New Camford-Ivy Town area. Granted that Ivy Town was, at most, an hour away from New Camford, Leila allowed her son to apply for jobs there as well. In fact, she became an advocate for such idea as she had friends that lived in the town that could help.

He had avoided talking to Robert all morning for the simple fact that the man would question what happened to Sam yesterday. To Eli, he owed the man no explanation that Leila could not have given. If Robert wanted to know that badly, he would confront his wife, right? Either way, Eli was long-gone before Robert knew it.

Sam would be going with the neighbors anyway, Eli thought to himself. Thankfully his mother's neighbors were around today to watch Sam which gave Eli the time to do what he wanted.

A knocker chose that moment to interrupt Eli's peacefulness, the teen sighing heavily. This was becoming a reoccurring cliché to Eli. Every time he thought he was going to have peace and quietness at his apartment, someone somehow interrupted that by either phone call or showing up.

Thankfully, he was in a rather good mood today.

"Yeah?" Eli said before he even opened the door.

"This," Jade said holding an envelope towards Eli. "Is for you, or your dad I should say. You are that 'Jackson boy' that the old woman on the second floor seems to hate, aren't you?"

Eli chuckled. "Yeah, that's me. And she only hates me for feeding her Chihuahua a Snicker's bar like ten years ago." Eli took the mail from Jade, reading that it was addressed to Malcolm. "Thanks."

"Word is that you somehow beat two guys yesterday. I'm kind of impressed." Jade casually conversed.

"Oh really?" Eli returned. "And why are you impressed? Didn't think I could fight?" Jade smiled, shaking her head for no. "I'm somewhat offended that you thought that. Maybe next time I'll let you sit and watch."

"Watch you fight? No thanks. I get bored watching unprofessional fights, especially when it's two guys that have no idea what they're doing." The shorter teen paused in her speech before adding. "It kind of makes me want to go out there and beat them both for the sake of my boredom."

Eli quietly swallowed. He knew a fair amount of girls and most of them were all talk. Somehow, he got the feeling that Jade was not like those girls and that she actually enjoyed fighting more than she did watching it. That kind of dangerous thought would spell the end for the average person in Cheshire Square.

"Oh well," Jade said. "Anyway, I thought about asking you for that trip to Venice Terrace yesterday, but I didn't know if your girlfriend would be okay with that."

"Hannah and I aren't dating anymore." Jade raised a neatly arched brow. "We broke up last year. She's just a good friend."

"Oh. Well if that's the case, I'm free tonight. Care for a little party on the beach?"

Eli thought about the offer. Sure, he knew all the reasons why he should not go, but there was the underlining fact that he would be in Venice Terrace- the area where Bookworm was rumored to have a home or base of operations. If he had a legit reason to be in the area, then he could actually investigate to see if his dad was onto something or not. Not only that, but Tobias Whale had a high chance of showing up in Venice Terrace, if the drug lord was in New Camford, that is.

"Sure," Eli answered. "When'd you want to leave?"

Jade gave Eli a smile. "Soon. Come up to my apartment in about an hour and then we can go, okay? It's apartment 4C." Eli saw a small glint in the girl's eyes. "My godfather should be back by then."

"You want me to show up when your godfather is around?" Eli questioned.

Jade began walking backwards, smile etched onto her face.

"He doesn't trust a lot of people. Don't worry though, he shouldn't kill you."

Eli just stared as the girl moved for the stairs, heading up to her floor. He obviously knew very little about Jade, less about her godfather. He did not know what to expect from the legal guardian of a girl he hardly knew.

He was still getting used to talking to Hannah's dad.

But this was his best chance to see what his father had been working on. His deduction was now simple; if he knew what his dad was working on and finish it, then he could somehow find out why the man did it. Afterwards he would put the whole Army Ant/Malcolm Jackson persona to rest once and for all.

Now, he just had to take some girl to Venice Terrace and find any clues he could.

* * *

More than an hour later, Eli found himself staring at the green door with the brass address "4C" on it. On the other side of the door were Jade and her godfather. He had spent a little more than half an hour rehearsing how to knock on the door and respond to the possible reactions to said knock. It sounded like a stupid and trivial thing, but it was one of those things that every teenager faced, he supposed.

Taking in a quiet breath, he gave the cream-colored door three solid knocks and waited. Within seconds later, he was staring at a rather large African-American male.

"Uh…" Eli began, confused and somewhat intimidated by the muscular man in front of him. "I think I have the wrong room."

"Eli?" The man guessed. Eli nodded slowly. "Jade's coming. Come in."

Eli did as requested, still trying to shake off the fact that Jade's godfather was indeed a black man. Sure, he understood that this was her godfather and not her biological father, but fact was still an odd thing within Cheshire Square.

Looking around the living room, he noted that the place was rather bare. While he admits that most of his childhood pictures were moved to his mother's house after she and Miles split, there was absolutely no pictures to be seen on the walls.

There was, next to the TV, a trophy case stacked with several awards. A pair of golden gloves was seen on the wall where Eli assumed a picture should have been hung behind the two armchairs.

"Boxer?" Eli asked the man who was sitting in one of the two burgundy armchairs present.

"Fighter," the man answer in a deep tone. "Much different that an average boxer."

"Why's that?" Eli questioned.

"There are many more things in the world to fight for than money." The man answered, his eyes locking onto Eli. "The average boxer does it for just that, money. Though it doesn't start that way. It normally starts with an event or a period of time to build up the need to fight. You look like you understand that."

"I… I do actually." Eli said before sighing. "I guess you heard about what happened yesterday."

"Not many would have stood up for the boy, especially against a life-long friend." Eli would have asked how this man or Jade even got that information but figured that Jade must have overheard Carla and Hannah talking.

"He's my brother. The boy, that is." Eli explained as he dug his hands into his jean pockets. "I can't let him get beat for something he doesn't understand."

A pregnant pause followed before the man spoke again.

"Even after he broke such a rule?" Eli nearly flinched. That had been his argument with his mom and Hannah. It was kind of hard to find a legitimate argument against himself.

"Some rules were meant to be broken I guess." Eli said.

"Are you two done?" Jade's voice nearly started Eli as the girl walked towards the refrigerator. "I'd rather not get into a talk about racism. Not unless one of you is secretly Asian."

Eli lets out a quiet chuckle. "Uh, actually I kind of am." Jade gave him a shocked look over her shoulder. "My mom is actually from the Middle East. So, in a way, I am Asian."

"Huh…" Jade muttered.

Eli stood quietly. He hadn't lied about Leila's origins. However, he found himself doing another one of his mother trademark habits by foregoing saying exactly where Leila was born. She was born in Bialya in a city Eli neither knew the name of nor cared to learn about. He could have used the lie and said she was from Saudi Arabia but relented.

The less they knew the better, he thought.

"When are you returning? If you want any training, it'll have to be before ten." Eli almost groaned at the man's words. Ten? Even Leila gave him a later curfew than that.

Jade, however, waved her godfather off. "I doubt Eli's parents would let him stay out that late. I should be back before two."

Now Eli stopped himself from revealing any shock. Was this man really allowing Jade to stay out until ten the next day? No. There was no way that any parent- godparent or not- would allow their attractive teenage daughter to stay out in any city until ten in the morning. Once again, New Camford wasn't the worst city in the world, but even they had parental standards.

"Are you ready?" Eli nodded despite the fact that it was only five in the evening. He assumed that Jade had somewhere in particular that she wanted to go see or else they would be leaving at a later time.

Why you may ask? Because everything happens in Venice Terrace after the sun goes down.

"Jade," her godfather said. "I need to talk to you." Eli saw the look on the man's face and got the message loud and clear before he added, "Alone."

"Sure." Eli said stepping towards the front door. "It was nice to meet you Mister…?"

"Turner. Ben Turner." Eli gave a nod of acknowledgement.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Turner." Eli said as he departed into the hall. He let out a small breath before muttering aloud. "Way to go Eli…"

He closed his eyes and thought about the information he was allowed to learn with today's peacefulness. He had learned that Kord Industries was going under due to Ted dying a year ago. His dad had somehow stopped a weapons deal that had Kord Industries weapons. How that connected to Tobias Whale and Sapphire Stagg was something Eli had not pieced together yet.

Though, deep within his gut, he knew that there was a connection like a cliché from one of those old action movies. The super-rich boss and the crime lord are always working with one another.

"You know," Jade's voice once again interrupted Eli's thoughts. "I really didn't think you'd show, let alone talk to Ben. He has this thing with scaring away all of my fun…"

"Oh? So now I'm 'fun' huh?" Eli joked lightly. The attempt worked well enough to get a small smile on Jade's face, though his next question was sure to end it. "So… What were you heading for Venice Terrace for? I mean, I get that you want to see the city but you're determined to see that one spot with me. Why?"

Jade's right brow lifted in amusement. "I pegged you to be smart but not a detective." She stepped by him and motioned him to follow with a hand. "It's nothing really big just… Well, the other day I overheard one of Ben's conversations and he said that my dad would be at the Hilton this weekend for some party. I figured if I showed up with a date, it'd look more casual and I…" Jade paused as they descended the stairs. "I just want to see my dad, you know?"

"…" Those words seemed to hit Eli a lot harder than he expected. He found himself swallowing a mixture of nerves and despair before sighing quietly. "I understand completely…"

"Ben doesn't want me to go around the guy for reasons I don't know. I think he's just overprotective honestly." Jade commented before glancing at the boy walking next to her. "You? Your parents that annoying?"

"My mom is. My dad passed a few weeks back." Once more, Eli found that avoiding the whole truth was better than lying completely.

"Ah. So that's why you lock yourself up in that apartment. You're alone." Jade deduced with a knowing smirk. "For a second I thought you and your 'not girlfriend' were fucking like rabbits to be blunt about it."

Eli snorted. "Nah. Hannah isn't like that."

"Uh-huh?" Jade's voice showed her interest, or lack thereof, about where the subject was turning which made Eli think of one thing.

She was fishing for something. He had been raised by a straightforward woman and a father who tried to sugarcoat a number of things. Eli knew when someone was not being completely honest with him. Not that he could actually complain. He was doing something similar to her. This was not about meeting her father, and if it was, then there was a real good reason why she was going to such great lengths to do so.

"So what's up with your friend? The guy that I saw a few days ago."

Eli shook his head, his shoulders moving with up in a shrug. "George is… George. I've known him practically all my life, he and his brother that is. When he and I reached sixth grade, I discovered that I was good at sports. People started to expect things from me. George was being scouted by the SRC." Eli paused and stared ahead as they reached the lobby. "I guess that's where we began to drift. We try to keep in touch but… The son of a lawyer and a soldier doesn't make the best friend of a drug-doer and her dealer, I guess."

"That was really, really poetic." Jade joked. "Maybe at the end of this riveting story you're telling, you and George can die protecting each other from cops and crack addicts."

Eli glanced at the smirking brunette. "And people have the nerve to call me an asshole."

Jade pushed the door open, stepping out of the complex with Eli behind her.

"Oh, Mr. Jackson, there are tons of things that you don't know about me." Jade said as she eyed him over her shoulder. "Make it worth my while and I might just let you in on a few secrets. But I'm warning you. These secrets could get you killed with Ben."

Eli only gave a half-hearted grin. He knew very little about this Jade and yet could already tell just how much trouble he could- and probably would- get into if he stayed around her. She had a vibe that was almost the polar opposite to that of Hannah.

Then again, he was not seeking a relationship with the girl. They could remain friends, distant friends if needed. For now, he needed Jade for two very simple reasons. Reason one, he needed an excuse to be in Venice Terrace, a section of the city he rarely ventured to without George. The second reason was to get away from George, Hannah, his family, and generally everyone else. Eli was getting tired of them wondering if he was alright or if he wanted to talk.

The answer was no to both of those questions.

"So, what's the fastest way there?" Jade asked, her body now turned to face Eli completely as she walked backwards down the sidewalk.

Eli thumbed behind him. "Metro. Cab second. Too many stops for the bus. Way too many."

"Well then," Jade said. "Metro it is."

Eli simply nodded his head. Yeah, something was definitely up with this girl. And while she seemed to radiate with all the wrong signs, Eli felt compelled to find out just who she was and what she was about.

But first, there was Alexander Wyvern. Eli would fill the holes in his dad's notes by learning this man personally and then he would find out about the girl from Cheshire Square.

* * *

Venice Terrace was to New Camford what the Hamptons were to New York. It was noted for its group of pleasant villages filled with hotels and luxurious beach homes, all on the upper east coast of the city. Despite popular belief, it was actually named after European explorer Venicio Hurtz, whose seven-bedroom bayside cottage was now one of the most desirable rentable summer homes in the New England area.

Tourists, however, still wrongfully thought that Venice Terrace was somehow related to Venice, Italy, and thus many Italian restaurants from New York and New Jersey have migrated upwards to the area.

Unfortunately for Eli, Venice Terrace was noticeably the most populous area of New Camford during the summer. It was filled with lost people trying to ask for directions or- and this is what he hated the most- trying to tell him the history of his city as if a damn history book could give them the experience he had.

"So this is Venice Terrace, home to the famous Cam Beach and Drayton Pier. It looks better on the brochure." Jade commented as the two navigated through a sea of tourists walking down the sidewalks.

"That's because all of these assholes aren't on the brochure." Eli commented, glaring at a man who had recently stepped on the back of his heel.

Jade grabbed Eli's hand. "It's this way."

"And how would you know?" Despite his questioning, he still followed her as she darted through the crowd.

Jade doesn't answer which causes Eli to stare at her back. Now that he was in Venice Terrace with the perfect excuse other than snooping around for some murderer, he found that his attention could not even be put on said murderer because his excuse was becoming more suspicious by the seconds.

"How do you know where you're taking me?" Eli asked louder.

"Because it's at the Hilton." Jade's answer gained a quiet "Oh" from the boy. "The party is being held there. Or so, that's what I heard."

Eli hummed quietly with skepticism. Maybe it was how she said it or the fact that she gave such a vague answer but Eli hardly believed any word Jade was saying now. It was painfully obvious that he had been dragged into some sort of plan of hers and was now stuck here with her.

At least she wasn't bad on the eyes, Eli thought. In tank-top and tight athletic nylon shorts (booty shorts as they were commonly called), it was not hard to see that. But he was not here to see Jade- or any girl- for that matter.

He had to snoop out the spots that Malcolm had spoken about in his notes and find this Bookworm. Or at least find out about the guy.

Brown eyes scoured the area as Eli followed Jade down the busy sidewalk. Bookworm had a thing for libraries, so Eli was sure to search for a library or bookstore on the way. And his victims, those that actually fit a pattern, were normally people that were seen around said library or book store disrespecting literature.

Well, that's what Army Ant once thought.

The problem was Eli had no experience in tracking mass murderers. Sure he could find some clues on the way to the hotel but what good would that do without a thorough searching. Unless he had a legit reason to be in the area for a good amount of time- this event would not count considering he had to be in at a specific location within the area instead of just being in the general location of Venice Terrace- then he would never find anything about Bookworm.

That was a thought; he searching for a criminal to gain some clarification of his father's life style. Even Eli could see the ever-looping circle there. Miles became Army Ant for unknown reasons and- in search of said reason- Eli would become what his father had. Worse, he would become something akin to Army Ant without having the full understanding as to why either of them did.

"Hey, are you alright?" Eli blinked and realized that Jade had stopped dragging him around and that they were both stopped in a crowd, waiting to cross the street.

"Fine," Eli lied. "When is this party anyway?"

He see Jade's eyes narrow as if she was threatening him to tell him what was on his mind before they relax and she shrugs her shoulders. Eli released a silent breath of relief.

"You know," Jade spoke. "I kind of thought that your not-girlfriend would have called by now. She seems to be the type to check in on you."

Eli scoffs at the statement. "She seems? She is the type to check in on me at the worst times." He pauses. "But I can't say I mind. All the time, that is."

"Let me guess, she cock blocked you." teased the shorter girl.

"Once or twice." Eli said with a small smile. "It actually got worse after we broke up."

"Been there…" Jade muttered.

Eli's brows raced to his hairline. "By who? Your godfather or another guy?"

"Secrets, Mr. Jackson. Secrets." Jade taunted.

When the traffic light changes and the group was allowed to traverse across the street, Eli noted that there was something different about Jade. Of course, he was comparing her to Hannah as if Hannah was the feminine standard of his life. Whereas Hannah had a flirtatious side to her, it seemed as if Jade was a master to the craft that Hannah rarely used. That scared Eli to a point.

Could he be one of those guys that get lured in by a femme fatale and never see the day of light again…?

…Probably not.

"So Ben was a boxer?" Eli attempted to learn as much about Jade now. Just in case she was the type to lead people on just to scam, rob, or kill him.

"What wasn't he?" Jade offhandedly responds. "Why?"

Eli shrugged. "Just wanted to know. He said he was training you."

"Don't worry Eli. I promise not to kick your ass so long as you shut up and do this one favor for me." Jade said with a grin.

"I don't know what the favor is, honestly." Eli sincerely said. "You didn't need me to show you where Venice Terrace was. You obviously already know where the Hilton is. You don't need me to tell you about a party I don't even know about." Eli saw Jade give him a critical look as they walked. "So I'm questioning what favor I'm doing at this moment."

"Because if my dad is there I want to be with someone." Jade explained. "If you haven't noticed, I'm new here. Next to your friend's creepy brother, you're the only other person I've talked to in New Camford. And I can't bring Ben. He'd do something I'd rather not say aloud in public if he saw my dad again."

"I guess I fit the bill, huh?" Eli stopped before frowning. "And when did you meet Eric?"

Jade shrugged. "Same day I met you. I wandered around the block and spotted him with some of his guys. Told me he'd give me the best time in my life."

"You've met Eric alright…" Eli commented.

"I'm sure you or your not girlfriend has done something that you'd rather not do alone. This is one of those things for me, alright?" Eli nodded at her statement. "Good. Now no more questions until after we leave."

"Wait, one final question," Jade groans and rolls her eyes. "What kind of party is this again?"

Jade's smile had Eli swallowing quietly.

* * *

In hindsight, that should have been his first question. Coming to one of the party rooms within the hotel situated next to Drayton Pier- a small fairground located on the beach- Eli was reminded of that fact. He should have asked earlier.

"A political party?" Eli questioned his companion. "You dragged me to some guy's political campaign party?"

"The guy's name is Robert Pullman, a Connecticut State Senator. He's the typical politician, working with shady guys here and there." Jade explained. "My dad actually works in his office." Eli's brows rose with mock interest. "The guys here range from some of the country's wealthiest men to some… Illegal entrepreneurs, if you get what I'm saying."

"Mob bosses." Eli said.

"Yeah… Anyway, just let me do all the talking and we can get in. Once inside, I'll find my dad, exchange a few words, and then I'll owe you one. Sounds fair?"

No, Eli thought, this was by no means fair. When he first ran into Jade, he hardly thought that she would talk to him much afterwards, let alone drag him into her family drama with her assumed biological father.

But he was here now. And better, he was in a place where someone could- not answer his questions about Bookworm- but about Sapphire Stagg and, hopefully, Tobias Whale. That would be answers he could check off of his list.

"Fine," Eli said. "But you owe me, Jade. And I don't mean like a cup of water because I'm thirsty kind of favor either."

Jade gives him another luring smile. "Don't worry. Like I said, Ben normally scares away my fun before too long. So long as he doesn't scare you or kill you, then I am sure to repay you somehow."

Sex, Eli thought. Her tone clearly suggested that she was making an innuendo. Then again, he once again reminded himself that he knew very little about this girl or her sexual appetite or preferences. She could be an aimless flirt who was just leading him on just to get what she wanted or she could be lesbian. He did not know and knew that he would not learn said fact any time soon.

"Come on," Jade instructed.

Eli followed quietly while resuming his thoughts. She was most likely going to get him arrested, he thought. Somehow, someway, this was about to turn really bad really fast.

"Can I help you?" One of the two guards standing on either side of the large opened double doors asked.

"Um, I'm Jade," Jade began in a rather chipper tone. "And this is my boyfriend Eli. I'm doing a paper for my blog about Senator Pullman and I was wondering if I could get a few words from him?"

"And you think that we'd just let you waltz right in there?" The large man returned. "Go away little girl or-"

"Did I mention that I have great memory and I will instead post the blog of a fat slob with ties to the Penguin instead of just an innocent campaign blog?" Jade interrupted.

To Eli's surprised, the man stood stone still. His pale skin seemed to turn green for a moment before he looked at his confused partner of equal size. Soon, the guy looked at Jade who- and this was going to haunt Eli for a while now- had somehow blackmailed a perfect stranger.

"Go ahead," The man said. "And that stays between us. If the boss knew that I was careless and got caught…"

Jade smiled. "Don't worry. We won't tell." Jade then looked at Eli. "Come on. Just a few questions and then Drayton Pier."

The pair entered the room, spotting several small round tables scattered about, filled with people of all ages, sizes, and colors. Surprisingly, no one immediately pointed out the two misplaced teenagers. In fact, the conversations around the room did not even halter once at their arrival.

"We have to find my dad." Jade said. Jade looked to see Eli eying a woman. "Or you could go hit on some woman twice your age and get kicked out of this place."

"…" Eli was quiet for a few seconds, apparently not hearing Jade. "She isn't." Jade raised her brows. "She's twenty-seven, not twice my age."

"And how do you know this?" asked Jade.

Eli glanced at her. "Because I do my homework." Eli then looked back at the beautiful blonde blue-eyed woman. "Don't get yourself kicked out. I need a couple of answers."

Jade stayed vigilant of her companion, unsure just what he had in store. Of course, the fact that he seemingly knew the mysterious woman was surprising by itself. But she did not expect him to have the gall to actually approach said woman.

For Eli, he started to get his answers now. He was not going to wait for another opportunity to come by or for Jade to actually find her long-lost father. Those late nights were going to pay off now.

"Um," Seeing his approach, the pristine woman gave Eli her full attention. Her dark pink strapless dress somehow expressed a fun-loving woman in the summer as well as a strong businesswoman at the same time. "Can I help you?"

"I'm Eli Jackson, son of Malcolm Jackson," Eli introduced. "I'm here with my, um, my girlfriend who is doing a blog on Senator Pullman."

The woman, Sapphire Stagg, looked at Eli with shock now as she uncrossed her flawless legs and sat up with an outstretched arm to shake his hand.

"Sapphire Stagg. I'm so sorry for your lost." Sapphire said as Eli shook her hand. "Your dad was a very hard worker and it was a pleasure to actually get to know him."

"Thank you, but I wanted to ask you about something." Eli replied.

"Oh? What can I help you with?" Sapphire questioned as Eli released her hand.

"Yeah, um," Eli began. "I heard that there was a bidding war for Kord Industries. Jade's kind of real into this business and politics thing and she kind of rubbed off of me. So I was wondering if Stagg Robotics was going to buy into it or was this mystery guy from Metropolis was getting it- what was his name again?"

Eli saw it. Sapphire looked uncomfortable for a split second. Apparently Malcolm's notes were not all false and that Tobias Whale did have an interest in purchasing the company.

But, with a grand mastery of proper etiquette, the woman's uncomfortable expression morphed to that of pure business and her left leg crosses over her right.

"I have heard about this 'mysterious buyer' and, no, Stagg Enterprises will not purchase Kord Industries." Sapphire spoke with a crisp tone. Eli knew this tone very well from his mother, who normally used it to cover her genuine distaste for certain things. "You seem to know a lot about the business, Mr. Jackson. Was your father into it as well?"

"No. Or rather, I wouldn't know. Like I said, my girlfriend does this blog and her and her friends normally have me locked up with them digging up the best stories." Eli said with a grin.

Sapphire returned the smile. "Well you are quite the investigator, Mr. Jackson. I would hire you to look into our competitors but I doubt having you work around the clock twenty-four seven is against child regulation laws."

"I am looking for a job. Just nothing that time consuming. I still want to enjoy summer break." Eli stated.

Eli saw a genuine look of interest flash between Sapphire's deep blue eyes- her namesake, he thought. However, if there was one thing Eli knew about powerful women- i.e his mom- was that when they got this look, he generally did not like the next thought.

"How would you like a job where you only work on Saturdays? Nine to five?" Eli raised his brows to show that he was interested. "I run a youth program that spreads across the New England and Mid-Atlantic region for orphaned kids who have a hard time dealing with their lost. We're always looking for new counselors for these kids."

"All I have to do is talk to them?" Now Eli was genuinely interested in the offer.

"Well, we believe that kids respond to people their own age that has gone through the similar tragedies other than listening to some rich adult who has never had to work a day in his life." Sapphire stated. "We had offered Bruce Wayne a similar position but, he has a lot on his plate. So we decided to get kids to do it instead."

Eli frowned. "For some kind of company profit?"

"No. Not everything I do is for money." Sapphire said this in such a way that it made Eli nearly regretted talking to her in the first place. Almost as if she was threatening Eli for thinking that she did.

Eli felt that the conversation had, once more, gone south. He had, at least, gotten information about her knowledge of Tobias Whale. Sapphire knew who Tobias was and knew that the drug lord had his sights on Kord Industries. She had not said it, heck she didn't even insinuate it, but her facial expressions and tone of voice had heavily hinted that she had.

Eli decided to take this as a victory and leave before suspicion- or more suspicion- could be made.

"I'm sorry," Eli apologized. "I just thought-"

"Here you are," Jade's voice could not have come at a better time. Eli was sure that his apology would come out as insincere and Sapphire would have immediately picked up on it. Eli gave the girl a blank stare. "I got my interview. Let's go."

"Before you go," Sapphire stopped the teens' departure. Eli saw the woman reach for her large white handbag, digging into it to fish out a card. "Call this number if you were serious about the job. We could always use another counselor." Eli nods as he takes the card. "Thank you for this, Eli. These kids, they need a hero."

Eli gave the woman a smile. "I'm not a hero. But I'll try. Thanks for this, Ms. Stagg."

"No problem. I hope to hear from you soon." Sapphire said before her eyes settled onto Jade. "And you must be Jade. I hear you're doing a blog on, not only Senator Pullman, but also the Kord Industries purchase."

"That was supposed to be a secret." Jade said as she gave Eli a sharp look out of the corner of her eyes. "He isn't the best secret-keeper." Jade then sighed and looked at Sapphire with a smile. "Good thing he's cute."

Sapphire chortles. "Yes. It is a good thing he is cute."

"Come on Eli. I need to get started on this story." Jade said.

"You owe me something though." Eli responded, making sure that, once again, sex was heavily insinuated. This time was different though. Jade was not the target of the insinuation, Sapphire was. So long as Sapphire thought that Eli was going to get "something" out of this little adventure, the implication that he was dragged here by his bossy girlfriend would seem more likable.

"Whatever," Jade stated as she grabbed Eli's left hand. "Let's go."

Eli bid Sapphire a farewell for him and Jade before allowing Jade to pull him out of the function. The two were silent until they left the hotel completely, rejoining the sun's warmth once more.

Only after they were safely on the sidewalk did Jade release Eli's hand, now walking casually beside him.

"Did you get what you came for?" Eli asked her.

Jade released a heavy breath and then smiled. "Yes."

Her reaction was odd, but like every other odd thing about her, Eli kept his questions to himself. He was beginning to think that there was something completely wrong with Jade and it was scaring him more and more by the minutes.

"And you?" Eli glanced at Jade. "You targeted that woman out so you obviously had an agenda."

"How could I have had an agenda for an event I didn't know I was going to?" Eli responded.

Jade rolled her eyes. "You didn't need to know where we were going. Still, you knew what you wanted from that lady the moment you saw her, so you obviously had whatever you did rehearsed." Jade then smirked. "You're not the only smart one here, Eli."

"I got a job, if that's what you're asking." His answer was, again, bullshit but he really did not want Jade to know all of his secrets, if any. "She's Sapphire Stagg and my dad used to work for her. I played the pity card to get a job so I can pay for the apartment instead of having to live with my mom."

Jade clicked her tongue. "Ah." Eli watched as Jade's green eyes glanced to her left where the beach lied. "Kind of sucks that we came out here and didn't get to enjoy Drayton Pier."

"You sound as if you genuinely want to go." Eli commented dryly.

"You don't?" Eli only shrugged. "A beautiful girl asks you to go to beach with her alone and you just shrug it off?"

"I don't know anything about said girl." Eli pointed out. "The last thing I need is for her to have me near the ocean waters where she could dispose of my body."

"For future references, I would burn your body before disposing it if I really wanted to get away with killing you." Eli frowned.

"You speak as if you have experience in getting away with killing someone." His statement was met with a sly grin.

"Join me and I'll tell you whether or not I have."

Once again, Eli saw the red flags. He knew trouble when it stood directly in front of him, literally smiling in his face. But he had to go. He had to know something about her. Not only that, but he was curious as to what she had gotten from Robert Pullman.

"You can also tell me what you want." Jade said offhandedly. Confusion was clearly written on Eli's face once more as the Asian beauty added. "The favor? I do keep my word. I owe you one and you can ask for something. Just not everything, got it?"

"Got it." Eli said as a new problem rose in his mind.

Just what favor could he ask for?

* * *

It was well after eleven o'clock at night when he ad Jade returned to Cheshire Square. The two had spent the majority of the evening at Cam Beach and Drayton Pier, casually trying to gain information on the other while not divulging too deep into their personal lives.

Eli had rightfully assumed that there was something big that Jade was hiding. It had bugged him since he had watched her completely destroy the games that the booths of Drayton Pier had to offer, winning prizes that neither cared to take with them. Ironically, Jade had kept the tiger plushie that Eli had won at a dart's booth. She told him that in the future, if he was lucky, she would tell him just why it was so funny that he would give her a tiger.

All in all, the day went by peacefully. Robert Pullman and Sapphire Stagg were none-the-wiser about the interrogations conducted by the two teens. Eli had turned his phone off, thus not being bothered by any calls from his mother or stepfather. And Jade proved that she could be good company to keep.

"Bialya," Jade commented as the two walked down the sidewalk. The brisk night air seemed to summarize just how relaxing their day had been. "That's the only country I haven't guessed yet so it has to be that one."

Eli snorted. "There're at least five Middle Eastern countries that you haven't guessed yet. What makes you think that Bialya is where my mom is from?"

"Because you're full of bullshit when you say she's from Saudi Arabia." Jade casually replied. "So it has to be somewhere full of terrorists because she hates talking about it. Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Bialya, and Qurac are the best countries to start with."

"People from Iran are quite prideful of their heritage." Eli pointed out. "I've met a family from there once. They stay not too far from here."

Jade smiled. "But you've yet to deny it so it must be true." Eli realized that she did have a small, strong point there. "So your mom is from Bialya."

"Sure Sherlock. She's from Bialya. Now your turn." Eli said.

"Vietnam." Eli clicked his tongue. "What? You have a problem with Vietnam?"

"Never been to say yes or no to that." answered Eli.

"…" Eli noted that Jade's quietness now was much different from earlier. This silence was filled with a deep despair, an emotion that Jade had done well not to show before. She was normally secretive for other reasons- he the same. But this was different.

Yet, right before Eli could voice any attempt of an apology, Jade's eyes landed on an object that had him following her line of sight. There, seated at the bottom of the steps that led into his apartment building was George.

This put Eli on high alert.

George and Eli had been friends for years yet Eli knew that George was, and always would be, more loyal to his brother, Eric, than Eli. If George was here for Eric or any other Saints Row Children business then there was bound to be others waiting in the wings to take a shot at an unexpected Eli.

Or, Eli thought, George could be here for another party that he wanted Eli to go to. It was a long shot, especially due to the recent events, but still an option.

"Your parents kick you out?" Eli joked as he and Jade approached the thin male.

"Nah, just wanted to talk." George answered as he stood up. "This the girl that Eric was talking about. Jay or something."

"Jade." Jade corrected.

George nodded. "Right, right," George then looked at Eli. "Look man, I gotta give this to you straight, alright? Eric. He ain't happy about what you did. Says you owe him more than you got. But-"

"Are you expecting me to not defend my brother?" Eli interrupted. "Look, George, it's late and I still have to get home. So can you save this half-ass explanation about your brother's feelings for tomorrow?"

"You don't want that bruh. I'm trying to help you."

"But who helps Sam, huh? The white guys that weren't there or the white guys too afraid to do something because you guys cry 'racism' every time you're actually caught?" Eli harshly responded. "You want to side with Eric on this? Fine. But don't be shocked when I stay beside my brother."

The two friends stood in front of each other quietly. The urge punch George had never been stronger. Years of friendship, a friendship longer than Sam's entire life, was now being tested over one six-lettered word. It was stupid. It was absurd. Yet it somehow meant so much to both sides here.

The sound of a car started across the street caught Eli and Jade's attention. The two turned to see an old Chevy Impala turning on its headlights. The driver was unable to be identified but the two knew that he was waiting for George.

"I'm really trying to help you." George voiced again. "Don't be a hero Eli. They don't make it out alive. Not in this town."

Eli glanced at Jade. The girl was still focused on the car parked along the opposite curb. She did not look worried though. In fact, Jade looked almost comfortable with this entire situation, more comfortable than she did when talking about Vietnam.

"You my nigga. Day one." George said as he put a hand on Eli's shoulder. "Don't make me- Fuck!"

Eli almost flinched as Jade quickly sprang into action, the hand once on Eli's shoulder was now being twisted painfully as George knelt in front of the glaring girl.

"Send this message to your brother," Jade said in a quiet tone. "If I call Mr. Bertinelli and tell him that his new errand boy was even delayed because of some wannabe gang, Mr. Bertinelli will be pissed. And when Mr. Bertinelli is pissed, you can have all the black pride that you want, but he will ultimately shut your little operation down. Eli is with me now. Understood?"

"Crazy bitch! Let go befo- Ah!" Jade applied more pressure to his arm.

"Fifty-four," Jade said. "There are fifty-four bones in your hand and wrist. You can either call your boys off and go home like Eli said or the next time you jerk off, you're going to need your big brother's help." Jade added more pressure causing George to grunt in pain. "And then I'll let Mr. Bertinelli know about your little sandbox friends. So what is it going to be? As you said earlier, don't be a hero."

Eli exchanged looks between George and the Impala. He was uncertain if this move of Jade's was wise or not but it was too late now. They were now in this thing until George either made his mind up or they ended up dead on the sidewalk by an unknown assailant in the car.

"Fine…"

Jade smirked. "What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said you have a fucking deal! Now let me go!" George demanded only to be kicked hard in the face, knocking him onto his back as Jade released his wrist. "Fuck!"

"You shouldn't have kicked him. Even if he did deserve it." Eli commented, the last part a bit quieter. "Go on Jade. I can handle it from here."

"Suit yourself." Jade said as she began walking up the steps, Eli following her. "Just know that I did that because he ruined a perfectly good day. We got information. Nice day at the beach. Come home and there's a problem."

Eli grinned as they entered the building.

"There's always a problem in New Camford." Eli said as the duo walked up the steps. "But George isn't one to worry about. In fact, George is probably the smallest problem in New England."

"A piece of advice. In this world, small problems never stay small. Solve them or get rid of them." Jade said.

Eli did not respond immediately, letting the words seep into his brain. Alexander Wyvern was a small problem who eventually became a big problem. A joke of a man had turned into a serial killer. Eli doubted that George had that capability as George was barely making into senior year.

But the SRC… They could become a serious problem.

Stepping towards his apartment door, Eli gave Jade a hardened look.

"That favor." Jade paused before going up the stairs to the fourth floor. "I want Ben to train me like he's training you. That way I can fix my problems, both small and large."

Eli noticed that Jade's face had once more taken a firm appearance. Obviously she was not so sure about his statement. But his conviction held strong. He wanted her to see just how badly he wanted this.

"Be here by seven and you can convince him yourself." Jade said. "But Eli, don't get your hopes up. Ben doesn't train everyone with a gang problem."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"And he won't like that you're using me to attempt to get him to do so." Jade added.

"I'll remember that as well." Eli absentmindedly replied as he put his key into the keyhole of his door.

Jade frowned. "He could kill you. I could kill you. And yet you're still just going to go up to him and ask?"

"My mom," Eli said as he opened the door to his apartment. "Told me that America had American worries. Obesity and bullying. Bialya had real problems. She had to hide her education and sneak to America afterwards. I don't know what a 'Bialyan problem' is. But I assume you do, huh?" Jade had frozen at the steps while Eli rounded to look at her. "If she can risk her life trying to get to America, I can risk my life to get to the same place."

Jade just stood astonished that Eli had deduced that. She was certain that the only hint would be when her memories of Vietnam resurfaced for a few seconds, but he was not paying attention to her. Or was he? And to relate her problems to that of a Bialyan woman raised before the education reforms of 1997…

"I'll be fine Jade," Eli said. "Night."

Jade just nodded as Eli stepped into his apartment. Closing his door, Eli looked around the room before pulling out the card he had received from Sapphire.

Bookworm was in Venice Terrace somewhere.

Tobias Whale wanted Kord Industries.

The Russians killed Malcolm.

And now Eli had a way to gain the answers as to why for two of the three while finishing his dad's case on Bookworm altogether. Not to mention that if he received training from Ben Turner, he would no longer have to fear about being jumped by the SRC so long as none of them brought a gun to a fist-fight.

All in all, today was a good day.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** So here's the next chapter, I hope you liked it. One thing I do want to point out is that this story does not in any sense follows Young Justice at all, making it a completely different universe than Jake Cross's or Sora's. With that being said, and a bit of a spoiler alert, there is no relationship between Jade/Cheshire and Lawrence Crock/Sportsmaster and Artemis will most definitely not be in this story (especially as her YJ counterpart) at all. One of the two promised men that will train Eli has been introduced here with the other coming in the next chapter. Also, to answer a previous question, there will be times where the story drifts away from Eli's POV. That will also be seen in a chapter or two and it will be in Leila's POV for a moment. As always, leave a review or PM for any thoughts, questions, or comments that you have and I will read and respond as soon as I possibly can. Until then, peace.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Notes:** As promised, here is the update of Markings of a Hero. Arkham Rising and Sora Gaiden should be posted sometime next weekend. I'm trying to get back into things since moving (I moved a few weeks after my laptop crashed) and the new job. That aside, this chapter starts one of two training chapters for Eli, the next being his first "patrol", and then he will be a somewhat full fledged vigilante. So as always, please enjoy.

 **Chapter Warnings:** The following chapter is rated T for Teen for swearing.

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Five: Reasons to Fight Pt. I

Leila was not happy that he did not return back to her house last night. Though Eli hardly cared. In his mind, Leila had run away from home twice. She really had no room to bitch about him not returning for one night.

He had spent most of the night rummaging through the files on the laptop and the other half going through the boxes of notes there. Due to the fact that his notebook was left at his mother's, he was forced to type most of his new revelations on a word document on the computer instead of jotting it down like he has been doing. Once more, he found his mother's work ethics coming out of him in full force and found himself going to sleep past three in the morning.

Eli had also gotten a better look at the weapons in his father's possession. Given that he had taken the gloves, goggles, and knife to his mother's, he was mostly focused on the guns that remained at the apartment. Against Leila's wishes, Malcolm had taught Eli the proper use of a handgun. Or at least, taught him as much as an American civilian with the right to have a firearm should know. Things such as reloading, safety, aim, safe keeping, and firing were all things that Malcolm had taught Eli. Of course, Eli knew that there were things his Army vet dad had left out, but at the time he was too excited to hold his dad's old revolver to give a damn.

Looking at the time on the digital clock on his father's nightstand, Eli groaned at the red blaring 6:21 that stared back at him. He woke up around seven and showered once it was clear that he was not going back to sleep. Sometime during his exploration through his father's things, his mother had called to express her early morning disappointment. That had been roughly thirty minutes ago. Eli neither cared why his mom was up before seven in the morning on a Sunday nor why she chose to call him to complain. He ended the call with a half-ass apology and went right back to what he was doing earlier. There was an ambulance that zoomed by with alarms waking many would-be sleepers sometime after eight. That had been another indicator that Eli was not going to get any more sleep.

So here he was, eyes glued onto his laptop screen, staring at a blank page. The cursor seemed to be blinking impatiently as if it had something better to do than to indicate where it was on the page. He had created the page to record his training with Ben- if he got it that is. Ben and Jade had been persons of interest to Eli, and thus deserved a page somewhere in his notes. Unlike everyone else though, there weren't any notes for Eli to read and transcribe. He had to make his own deductions and observations.

He began typing: Ben Turner…?

What did he know about the man? He was a fighter? He was obviously in shape and probably took care of himself. But that's all Eli knew. Jade had avoided the topic of her godfather almost completely yesterday, saying his name when only absolutely necessary. Eli had nothing to go on.

And what about Jade? He at least knew Ben's last name. Eli stared at the ceiling in thought. She was a fighter, trained by Ben. She knew the Bertinelli Family, though how was something Eli did not know. She was also quite familiar with the Penguin's personnel as she had been able to point out that the guards- or at least one of them- was also on the Gotham crime boss's payroll.

Then there was her connection to someone within the Robert Pullman campaign. Eli was almost certain that Jade's mystery father was the senator himself, but he could not really put Pullman in Vietnam roughly twenty years ago to create Jade. The Vietnam War ended sometime in the seventies- the teen was not sure exactly when- which was roughly twenty years before Jade was born. Therefore, it was hard to put a United State's senator within the country for legitimate business after 1980.

Closing his eyes, Eli groaned.

"He was in the army." Eli muttered out one of the few things he knew of Senator Pullman. The man had served his country just as Eli's father had years later. "What was going on in the nineties?" Eli continued to draw blanks, growing frustrated by the seconds. "Relax Eli. It'll come to you."

He stayed in this position for what felt like a few minutes. He figured that if he could pin down who Jade was, he would solve half his problems that came with her and her godfather. Not that knowing her father did him much justice, it did even out the playing field a bit. Jade knew who Eli's father was, that Malcolm had died, and that Eli's mother came from Bialya and was currently living in Mancastle Hills. Eli knew nothing but Jade was a girl from Vietnam that lived in Cheshire Square.

Eli jumped up as soon as he felt sleep attempting to drag him into a state of unconsciousness. His laptop tilted off of his legs and onto the bed, which caused him to sigh in relief. Had it fallen the other way, it would have crashed onto the floor.

Eli looked at the clock again.

6:54…

"Damn," Eli said getting out of his dad's bed. "I almost overslept."

He immediately moved to put the items back into their hiding spaces. With Leila both off today and in a bad mood, he was sure that she would stop by. If he wasn't here, she could discover all that he was determined to keep hidden. Afterwards he hastily put on his shoes, grabbed his phone and keys, and bolted out of the door.

If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late.

Honestly, Eli had no idea where that quote came from, just that his parents said it a lot. Both of them. His first day in kindergarten started with that exact phrase as well as his first day back from Winter Break his sophomore year in high school. Every time Malcolm dropped him off for basketball practice or a game, the man mentioned that phrase and every time Leila told Eli to show up for some holiday function, she hinted it. It had been preached to Eli so many times that he wouldn't be surprised if he muttered it in his sleep.

The complex was quiet in the early mornings except for one noisy neighbor was blasting music while vacuuming the floor. Yet the noise was not necessarily annoying. In fact, it was rather enjoyable compared to the eerie silence that came with Mancastle Hills. The silence there was bad enough for Eli to find comfort in his mother's late night ramblings than to sit alone outside.

Shoving his thoughts aside at the sight of the brass 4C, Eli composed himself. Jade had made it her mission last night to put fear into him about just walking up to Ben and asking for training. Last night, Eli was more than certain about the entire thing. Now he was starting to replay recent events and wonder just what he was doing here.

"Let's get this over with," Eli said as he raised his hand to knock on the door, only for the door to open before he could even tap his knuckles against the wood. "…"

"Did anyone follow you?" Jade asked as she peered behind Eli.

"No." he answered.

"Come in," Eli did not have a choice in the manner as she took his wrist and pulled him inside. The wind from the door told him just how lucky he was to take one small stumble step to the side as he believes Jade would have crushed him as she slammed the door shut. "Sit."

Eli looked at the two armchairs and took a small step towards them. His progression was stopped when Jade grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and pointed to the floor.

"Sit." she repeated.

Eli was more than annoyed about sitting on the floor but did it anyway. He folded his legs in front of him, sitting like how the schools made the kids sit back in elementary school during outside presentations. Hannah, who did Yoga, could sit like this for hours. Eli could only do so for about thirty minutes before he had to move and stretch his legs.

He was athletic, not overly flexible.

"I can't believe you showed up," Jade said quietly to Eli. "Ben was not too happy about this idea and he still hasn't said if he will train you or not." Eli looked up at Jade. "I was serious last night. He might kill you."

"George might kill me. You might kill me." Eli replied. "I'm fine Jade. And if it doesn't work, we're even anyway."

Jade only gave a low disapproving hum before Ben entered the room. Eli saw Jade's eyes meet with Ben's before the girl slowly sank to the floor next to Eli, on her knees. Seeing the position she was in, Eli changed his position so that he too was seated on his knees.

"One," Ben spoke, looking directly at Eli. "Give me one reason why I should go through with this deal."

Eli sat quietly on his knees quietly for a moment. He thought about telling them about the Mozgov Family and Tobias Whale. He thought about telling them of his need to find out what compels one to become a vigilante. He thought about using the same Bialya colloquy that he used on Jade last night. Yet, for some reason, none of those reasons seemed good enough.

"I don't have one." Eli finally said. Eli saw a flash of anger in Ben's brown eyes and continued his speech. "I don't have just one reason. I have many reasons to fight. But I need someone to teach me how to fight."

Ben's eyes narrowed. "You already know how to fight."

"No. I know how to throw punches against guys who are dumb enough not to dodge them." Eli said. "I will run into worse and I will need to know how to fight. You are a fighter. You understand what I'm saying."

"Hmm…" Jade heard her godfather hum deeply and took in a quiet breath.

Eli had not mentioned the real reason he wanted to be trained last night. Jade knew that it was not just the SRC. She had pieced that together last night. However, his resolve at the moment surely surpassed what she had seen and expected. It was almost as if he had specifically picked her out to lead him to Ben for this very moment.

"What would you do with these skills? Would you go out and fight injustice? Would you seek out those who have wronged you? What would you do?" Ben questioned. Eli sat quietly for a moment though he did not take his eyes off of Ben. "What is it that has you here right now? Power? Fame? What is it?"

"Answers," Eli stated. "Answers that I don't have has me right here, right now, sir."

"…To what questions?" probed Ben.

"Why my dad became a vigilante." Eli began listing. "Why my mom left Bialya. Why she left us. What the Russians wanted from my dad. Why no one has stopped Bookworm yet. Who will stop the SRC. And why…" Eli paused and swallowed quietly, his resolve leaving him for only a second before it returned. "And why am I so angry all the time…"

Once more, Jade found herself looking at Eli in a different light. This would not be the first time some guy had stepped in front of Ben and requested to be trained. Most of them had similar problems as the boy to her left. Yet something she had not seen was how Eli postured himself. Eli showed no fear yet it was obvious that Eli respected Ben's unseen prowess greatly. Cocky and brash boys did not make it. Afraid and petrified men never got to ask. Now she would see how the confident yet respectful would manage.

Eli had not intended to reveal that much but he had. He was aware of Jade's stares but ignored them for the moment. He had not taken his eyes off of the larger body in the room for a very good reason, he was afraid. Eli knew that Jade's speeds out-sped his reflexes, especially at the close proximity that they were in, but he had no idea just how fast or strong Ben was. If Jade was right and Ben would attempt to kill him, then Eli had to prepare himself without showing his nervousness.

The tension only grew when Ben strides towards the two teenagers. Jade's eyes snapped up to Ben while Eli subtly took in a breath that did not draw the girl's attention back to him. And then…

…And then Ben simply stepped by Jade and continued his journey to the front door. Jade was the first to react, practically scrambling to her feet to step in line behind the man. She gave Eli a tap on his shoulder as she did so, instructing him to do the same.

However, Eli remained in his spot.

"I will see how well your conviction holds up during training." Ben spoke to Eli. "Get up. We've wasted enough time."

Eli finally released his breath and slowly stood to his feet. At the moment, his main goal was to find out what drove Malcolm Jackson to become the Army Ant in a town where vigilantes had the shortest lifespan. In order to do this, Eli realized that he had to go out and see what it was that his father saw. However, Eli knew that in order for him to see what his dad saw, he would have to go to the places that Army Ant ventured that Malcolm did not. And if Eli dared to go there, then he would need the means to survive those hostile environments with the likes of people such as the Mozgov Family or Bookworm.

That is where Ben came in. And that is where Eli began with his journey to gain the answers he so desperately needed to know.

* * *

From roughly seven in the morning to a little after eleven, Eli had endured the worse physical training he had ever experienced in his life. Worse, Ben had told Eli afterwards that what Eli had faced was just conditioning.

The real training began later that night.

Eli had managed to leave afterwards, again not questioning what it was that Ben and Jade went to do. He returned to his apartment where he basically passed out on the sofa. His body simply could not take another minute of any type of labor- be it mental or physical- and had promptly shut down for the remainder of the morning.

He would wake up around three in the afternoon, still sore but mentally rejuvenated. A second shower had helped soothe his sore muscles, but only just. Eli was set on sleeping tomorrow in with or without anyone else's approval. And if he was forced to watch Sam tomorrow, they would not be going anywhere farther than the curb in the front yard and the wooden fence in the back. He'd be damned if the boy wanted to go to the park or anywhere like that.

However, Eli's physical turmoil would not be over today. There was a reason he was not resting and preparing for Ben's actual training. After waking a checking his messages, he found a message from one of his father's friends, Nick Hickman.

Eli remembers Nick from Malcolm's funeral and a few guys' nights that Malcolm actually went out to enjoy. Nick had not been a major part of Eli's life, but enough for the teen to actually know who he was and trust him. So when Nick called and told Eli to stop by, Eli figured that it was of some importance and dragged himself out of his apartment.

Nick stayed in the suburban area known as Madison, which was in the southern parts of the city. It was not as high-class as Leila's neighborhood, Mancastle Hills, but financially on a high hierarchy level than those families residing in Cheshire Square. The houses here were normally small three-bedroom one-story homes that looked to be the perfect place for older couples to retire to with a few two-story homes here and there. The green residential area was home to Madison Park, the place many fundraisers used the trail to start or end their run/walk for whatever cause. The most noticeable cause was breast cancer and women's awareness.

Walking down the sidewalk from the bus stop, Eli noted that the streets in Madison were wider than those in Cheshire Square. Originally he thought it was because the number of cars that were forced to be parked along the curbs of his home neighborhood, but brushed that aside when he saw a few cars parked along the curb of the sidewalk with sufficient space in the road for cars to pass effortlessly. This could be due to the fact that Cheshire Square was a historic neighborhood and the streets had not been resized since the 1920s while the neighborhood known as Madison would not sprout into its own major area until the baby boom after World War II.

Another thing Eli noticed was the heavily mixed ethnicity that Madison held within it. Cheshire Square was mostly populated with African-Americans with Caucasians taking a clear second place, Hispanics being third. Mancastle Hills was mostly inhabited by Caucasians of Western European descent, Middle Easterners who moved into the area after a great success- like Leila- being in second. The original Dutch home of Venice Terrace was densely populated with Eastern Europeans thanks to the heavy migration in the late 1910s due to its name. However, once the tourists left for their respective homes outside of New Camford, Italian, Greek, Croatian, German, and Russian decent clearly outweighed any other ethnicity in the area, with a nice chunk of Eastern Asians (Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean). But Madison, to the naked eye, had an evenly amount of race distributed amongst its people.

The air was also different than those boroughs and neighborhoods near the city, such as Cheshire Square. It was also not as salted as Venice Terrace.

Maybe, Eli thought, it's because everyone is cooking out today.

It was true. From his perspective walking down the sidewalk, he spotted at least four houses with the familiar smoke signal rising from the backyard that told him that someone was grilling something. Again, not a lot of that in his mother's neighborhood or his dad's for two different reasons.

After a five minute walk from the bus stop, Eli was able to locate Nick's white-painted house due to three obvious features. For one, the American flag hung proudly next to the porch and Nick was, if nothing else, a patriot. Secondly the silver plated "Hickman" on the mailbox told him all that he really needed to know. Finally, Malcolm's white 2003 Jeep Cherokee was parked on the paved driveway.

Gingerly walking up the driveway and then the small squares that led to the front porch, Eli stepped onto the porch and rang the doorbell. Seconds later, the lean Australian decent man known as Nicolas Hickman appeared at the door.

"Eli! Come in!" he said while pushing open the glass screen door, his raspy Australian accent still heard despite his many years living in New Camford. "I thought you'd change your mind after a while!"

Standing at six-foot even, Nick was a tall lean man, being smaller than Malcolm was yet visibly more toned than Robert is. His dark blond hair had grown into a mess of manageable curls with trimmed sideburns that stopped at the end of his earlobes. His nearly invisible trimmed glasses could be considered geek chic with his white polo top and khaki shorts adding to the mix. Nick was quite the hairy man, his forearms and lower right leg covered in dark blond hairs.

Nick's left leg had been amputated after the man survived a blown suicide bombing attack in Qurac.

Stepping inside, Eli found the house to be quite comfortable. Not too flashy as he felt his mom's home to be and not dingy like George's apartment. It was just comfortable.

"Nate will probably be here soon trying to get me to go down the street," Nick announced as he led Eli to a couch in the living room. "Bloody bloke has this thing about inviting the entire block whenever his daughter doesn't visit like she said."

Eli frowned. "Where does she stay?"

"Coral City." Nick's answer had Eli shrugging the entire question off as the pair sat down. "It's good to see you again. I think the last time I got a good look at you, you were, what? Eleven? Twelve maybe? Seems that once you got to thirteen, you were always out and about!"

Eli grinned a little bit. "Dad used to say the same thing."

"Yeah… That's kind of what I called you down here for." Eli let his smile drop as he stared at the solemn face next to him. "I need that laptop Eli, as well as the other things."

"What?" Eli angrily returned. "Why?"

"Because there are other people who need them, not some boy who is just digging for answers in his father's past." pointed out Nick. "I know this doesn't sound fair but-"

"I'm not giving that up," Eli quickly voiced. "It was my dad's and he died. I have a right to keep something of his, don't I?"

Nick sighed. "Listen kid, I get where you're coming from, but this is bigger than just your feelings. We're talking an entire city filled with Lord knows what and the information that your father has could help someone who wants to clean this mess up do it." Nick then pointed at Eli. "Your old man would have wanted that. And that's something you have a right to. Doing something he would have wanted."

Eli glared at Nick. "I'm not giving it back. I need it."

"Kid, whatever is in there is not for-"

"You know, don't you?" Nick blinked in confusion at Eli's quick cut off. "The Mozgov Family. Tobias Whale. You know about all of that, don't you?" Nick's silence answered Eli's question, the boy scoffing after a minute of silence. "Did everyone know my dad was a fucking vigilante but me?"

"Miles wasn't just a vigilante, kid. He was a hero. He did a lot more good for this damned city than you could ever hope to do." Nick stated. "And now there are others who want to do the same and I need that information back."

"So you're like the go-to guy to become a masked freak in this town, huh?" Nick practically snarled at Eli's words.

"Kid, I'm asking nicely because you were my friend's son and I owe it to him to give you the chance to do the right thing." Nick growled. "Hand me those files and that laptop. Guns. Knives. Bombs. You don't need those. Hell, it's illegal to have them. And it won't be for nothing. I'll give you what you want, kid. Just ask."

Eli now sat quietly. He was once again debating his next words, much like he was earlier with Ben. However there was a major difference. Eli was afraid of Ben and there had been nothing to replace said fear even during their workouts. Eli's fear of a military trained man such as Nick Hickman was replaced by anger now and Eli wanted nothing more than to punch the man for his request and leave.

"Miles told me to give you the Jeep out there when you got your license. I'm assuming you still don't have that yet, do you?" Nick's words snapped Eli out of his thoughts and the teen shook his head for no. "I know Leila won't be too keen with you driving beforehand, but if you want it, it is technically yours."

"Where did he work? Army Ant, that is." Eli questioned.

Nick took in a deep breath. "Well, that's a trick question." Eli brows knitted together. "I can show you but you'd have to swear that you won't tell another living soul. It isn't a clubhouse for kids to sneak off to and get laid."

"I promise." Eli said.

Nick shook his head. "Doesn't work like that kid. You have to give me your word that you won't do it or else I get a hell of a lot more than those boxes."

"Is someone using it?"

"No. Not now anyways." Nick answered. "But that's not the case. There are still things down there that… The things that I can't let go."

Eli understood what Nick meant and gave Nick another solid nod. In truth, Eli had never thought about where Malcolm went to change or work until now. The boy had been too busy being torn by the revelation of Malcolm's death to worry about just where Malcolm ran off to change into costume. Now it was a thought that was slowly forcing exhaustion to the back of Eli's mind.

Nick soon stood up and walked towards the kitchen, prompting Eli to follow with a simple motion with his hand. Eli needed know extra encouragement to follow. Before Nick exited the kitchen into the backyard, Eli was right on his heels. The pair walked across the freshly cut grass to the tool shed in Nick's backyard.

"Damn keys," Nick said as he fished a set of keys from his front left pocket. "Miles used to be able to just pull out the right key at any moment. Wasn't a genius by a mile, but talented at what he did, he was."

Eli was not completely okay with Nick subtly hinting that Malcolm was somewhat of an idiot but said nothing about it as the man unlocked the door and opened it. His body was practically buzzing with anticipation, only to be let down when he saw that it was just a tool shed.

"Make sure no one's looking, alright?"

Eli nodded at Nick's statement, looking over the chain-link fence that divided Nick's backyard with his two neighbors. The home behind Nick's house had a higher six-foot wooden-picket fence that Eli was unable to see over.

"Alright kid," Nick's voice was heard. "Come in and close the door."

Stepping inside, Eli saw a small square opening in the floor with a ladder leading to a basement beneath the shed. Figuring that that's where Nick's voice was coming from. Walking to the hole while closing the door behind him, Eli took in a deep breath.

This was it. He was finally going to see exactly where his father, the Army Ant, worked. All of those boxes of files and notes on the laptop came from this exact workspace. And as he descended into the surprisingly large area, Eli could not help but see why his dad chose to spend time here.

The space was clearly larger than the shed above. There were shelves of weapons on the northernmost wall with a desk with a three-screen desktop on it against the south wall. A punching bag hung near the weapons shelf with a gurney located on the eastern wall. There were also three glass showcases and a small square table with four chairs around it, a deck of playing cards on said table. Finally, there were file cabinets close to the ladder, probably for easy access to research or catalog a criminal or hero within the city.

The child in his mind called the place "cool" but Eli refused to say it aloud.

"This," Nick said throwing his hands up. "Is where your old man worked. Half the time, bastard didn't even bother to wake me up to let me know he or Trent were here."

"Trent?" Eli parroted in confusion as he moved around the well-lit room.

So caught up in the room, Eli had missed Nick's silence. It wasn't until he eyed the deck of cards on the table that he looked back at Nick.

"Who's Trent?" Eli asked.

"He," Nick elaborated as he moved across the room to the glass cylinder cases. "He worked with your dad. Never got around to a name but he had a suit and everything."

Eli swallowed, looking up at the back of Nick.

"He was his sidekick?" Nick was again silent. Eli quietly stepped towards the man's side, eying what was in the large cylinder containers. "He… He died too, didn't he? Trent."

Nick nodded. "Miles wasn't too pleased about that. Having to tell Trent's parents… Ate at your dad's gut, kid. It really did."

Eli looked at the two costumes in their respective containers. He immediately recognized his father's black get-up. The vest with pockets on both sides and the long sleeved top he wore beneath it was what Malcolm was garbed in when the police found him. The black, white, and gray camouflage cargo pants were present as well as the boots.

But Eli's eyes hardly strayed away from the black knitted mask that appeared to have covered every facial feature except the eyes. It was the mask that Malcolm Jackson wore and the face of the Army Ant.

"Why…" Eli began. "Why did he do this? Why did he become this?"

"I can't answer that kid." Nick answered as he stared at the Army Ant suit. "I'd like to think that he never stopped being a soldier when we returned. None of us truly forget about our time serving, especially those of us in Qurac. But Miles… He was one of the few of us who just had the urge to continue to fight on the frontlines."

"Mama thinks he was crazy." Nick snorted at Eli's words.

"Yeah, Miles was about three pages short from an issue." said the man. "But he had a heart on him, I tell you. He's saved my ass, and in truth, he saved yours too." Eli looked to see Nick grinning a bit. "Still picked the dumbest name, if you ask me. Who in the hell would ever be afraid of someone calling themselves the Army Ant?"

Eli shrugged as he looked back at the costume on the mannequin in the display case. He attempted to envision his dad wearing the suit then and there, probably angry that Eli was present in the first place. Though that would not last long as Malcolm was not someone who held grudges, not as long as Leila was.

"He was proud of you, you know?" Eli looked at Nick as the man continued to stare at the suit. "Said that, when you actually put your mind to it, you were just as bright as Leila was. I doubted him at first."

"Why?" Eli questioned.

Nick shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe because I knew just how smart your mum was. Leila set the bar high for any of us, higher than you give her credit for."

"I guess Dad told you about us. Me and Mama, that is." Eli guessed.

"Yeah," nodded Nick. "He told me about it alright. As the years go by, you give her a harder time. Can't blame you though. Did the same to my old man when we moved over here with his wife." Nick paused and shook his head a bit. "I guess Miles just wanted you to see the woman he did. The Bialyan warrior who could kill you just with a simple glance."

Eli grinned a bit. "Mama does have that glare thing working for her…"

"Your mum is an amazing woman," Nick told Eli, now staring at the teen. "Given that she came to this country with nothing but a bag full of books and clothes, you have to give her credit for ending where she did."

"With another guy in her rich neighborhood?"

"Some day kid, you'll actually be happy for her. I know I am." Eli grunted at the comment. "Hey, before she was your mum, she was just a woman trying to make it in this world. Hell if she didn't do it either. So, to me, she's a working woman who deserves a break- especially from her own son."

"I didn't know you were close to her." Eli voiced.

Nick sighed. "We're not, not anymore at least. I did talk to her a few nights when Miles was out there taking shots from God knows who."

A long silence followed after that as Eli tried to picture his dad in action. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he would have liked to see his dad fighting crime somewhere within the city, particularly Cheshire Square. If he had, and known that it was his father behind the mask, he might have some sense of pride or joy that Malcolm was the Army Ant.

Now…

Now he was just left here with angered thoughts and questions.

"She worries about you, you know?" Eli blinked out of his thoughts. He looked to see Nick staring at him. "Your mum? She worries about you quite a bit. I agree. You do remind me a lot like her."

"I doubt that." mumbled the teen.

"No, you do. I wouldn't be surprise if you run off to Canada or somewhere." Nick took another pause. "Bright too, smarter than your dad. You're even mentally built like your mum. Miles flinched at the first time he saw a dead man in front of him. Leila? She hardly blinked."

"How do you know?" Eli asked.

"Heh, I've known your mum for a long time now, back when she was still at Conn-4. She was living in your apartment in Cheshire Square though, driving back and forth to Ivy Town to get to classes." Nick explained. "This was years after Miles had met her, back before she was just in Gotham State. Couldn't believe that I met the chick to be honest. Hell, I couldn't believe she was still waiting on your old man to return!"

Eli once again gave Nick a look of confusion. "Why?"

"Kid, your mum was a beautiful young woman going to Conn-4 for Business Law. She lived in her own apartment in Cheshire Square. The fact that she chose to wait for Miles to return instead of finding some other suitor before then was amazing to say the least." Nick answered. "You don't know how many soldiers come home to find their husbands or wives gone or cheating, kid. Your mum was one of the ones we were betting on."

"I guess she loved my dad…" Eli thought aloud.

"And you," Nick continued. "You have that going for you. Handsome young fella with brains and apparently one helluva basketball player. Your old man saw a lot of Leila in you. Hell, I see it too."

Eli swallowed. "Almost as if I am Bialyan."

"A Bialyan with American problems," Eli's eyes widened at the statement, staring at the man in shock. "Eh? Something wrong?"

"No I…" The boy slowly regained composure. "You just said something that my mom said to me once, that's all."

"Miles used to say that about you a lot. That you were a Bialyan kid with American problems." Nick said. "Never figured out if that was a compliment or not, stop caring honestly. But he said it quite a bit about you."

Eli's eyes slowly fell onto the ground. "Maybe I am…"

"Hmm? Oh, the Bialyan kid thing?" Looking up at Nick, Eli saw the man grinning. "Kid, there's a story behind that, back when we were stationed in Qurac. A joke amongst platoon."

"Mm-hmm…" Eli hummed while looking back at the suit.

"You know," Nick said. "With the folks that you got, you have a pair of big boots to fill. Selfish or not, even you have to see that kid."

"I see that now…"

"No, you don't. Probably won't for a while. Too angry about what happened." Nick pointed out before sighing. "You need to get rid of that anger. Nothing good ever comes from it."

Eli stood in silence again. There was so much that he did not know about his parents and it made him angry. The secrets that Malcolm and Leila hid from their son had only done their job in putting a distance between what Eli knew and what really was. He did not want to know everything about them, but he was beginning to think that he knew nothing about either parent.

Eli's brown eyes once more traveled up to Nick as the man stared at Malcolm's former costume with his dark blue eyes.

"I remember," Eli spoke. "I remember that you used to do card tricks whenever you visited. Dad always told me it was because you were a magician while Mama never seemed to care."

Nick snorted. "Your mum's just mad because she never found the time to learn how to. It probably still pisses her off."

"Probably…" Eli said before thumbing to the cards at the table. "So would you show me?"

"Just to piss off Leila?" Eli shook his head.

"No," he answered. "Well, mostly no. I'm trying to get this job at Stagg Industries with their youth group. Maybe a couple of your tricks would please those kids like it did me."

Nick's brows shot for his hairline. "You don't strike me as one to work with children. Hell, you're a kid yourself!"

"I needed a job and got one." Eli said. Once again, he found that avoiding the whole truth was probably better at the moment.

"Sure, I can show you some tricks." Nick said. "But afterwards, we're going to talk about those files and the laptop. Like I said, more people need it."

Eli gave a small grin. "Of course."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** A small chapter but important nonetheless. Nick will provide Eli with, not only training on-field, but off of it as well that will be seen later. He will, in a sense, become akin to Eli as Alfred is to Batman or Felicity Smoak is to Oliver (from Arrow the TV series). Eli's training by Ben Turner, a top fighter in the DC Universe, will not stop in the hand-to-hand area but also Ben will mold Eli's perception in vigilantism as a whole. Again, leave a review or PM for any questions, thoughts, or comments that you have and I will respond during the next Review Corner. Peace.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Notes** : The second part of Reasons to Fight and the last post for Eli of 2016. Again, its a rather short chapter but I did not want all of it attached to the previous one. This chapter also gives a small insight into the thoughts of Leila. But as always, read and enjoy.

 **Chapter Warnings:** This chapter is rated T for Teen for swearing.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Six: Reasons to Fight Pt. II

"You won't get it down in a few hours kid," Nick Hickman's voice somehow taunted Eli as the teen failed to swiftly exchange cards as Nick had done. "This takes months to learn and years to master."

It had been hours since the two began, the time now being six in the evening. Leila had surprising not called, as well as Mallory and Hannah. Eli would have marked this as a day of smooth sailing if he could learn this sleight of hand that Nick was trying to teach him. That, plus his throbbing muscles reminded him of the torture yet to come.

"You never answered my question," Eli said as he shuffled the cards. "Are you some sort of go-to man for the vigilantes in this city?"

"Are you a cop?" Eli gave a negative answer. "Then why do you have to know?"

"Curiosity."

Nick gave a quiet breath of exasperation. "I have contacts that supplies things to set up hideouts such as this one. Your dad figured he could get all the help he could with cleaning the city so I learned more people, more names. So, yeah, in a way I am the go-to for that kind of stuff in this city."

Eli gave a small nod. "I see. And how did you know that I was using the computer to find out Dad's history?"

"The laptop and the big computer over there are somewhat connected." Nick explained. "You can't use the laptop without me knowing. Most of its files are just shortcuts to the main files here."

"So why do you need the laptop _and_ the hard copy files?" Eli inquired.

"You probably already know that answer," Nick said. Eli kept a straight face though he had figured out that the paper files were not all listed on the laptop and vice versa. "But there are some files not on the computer. That's why you see the cabinets over there as well as a large computer."

"…" Eli sat quietly before sitting the cards on the table in front of him. "I'll give you the files."

"This isn't a bargaining table, kid. I'm taking everything." Nick told him. "Like I said, this won't be for free but-"

"You can't pay me what I want because what I want isn't money." Eli interrupted. "I want to know why he did it. I need to find out by myself and I need at least the laptop and his journal to do so."

Nick tapped his left hand's index finger on the table noisily for a moment before leaning back in his seat and taking in a deep breath. His eyes seemed to have given Eli a thorough look over once more before settling on the boy's brown eyes.

"Miles said that you could throw darts pretty well. So how about a game? You win, everything stays with you. I win, everything comes back to me. Sounds fair?" Eli snorted and shook his head.

"I'm not as stupid as I was when I was a kid. I know you'll win." Eli said.

Nick sighed heavily. "Kid, I don't know what to tell you but I will get those things. Like I said, they are for those who are actually trying to do right in this world, not hold onto them for a personal memorabilia."

Eli gave Nick a hard glance before the teen rested his folded arms onto the table.

"What if I became this next vigilante?" Eli questioned.

"No."

"Nick I-"

"No," Nick said firmly again. "Leila will not have my head because her son wants to keep a bloody laptop and some files. Bad enough she blames me for Miles's death. I won't have your blood on my hands as well."

"I won't die. Not as a vigilante." Eli told Nick.

Nick glared at the boy. "Do you have some death wish or are you just this naturally stupid?"

"Give me till August," Eli stated. "Not only will I learn sleight of hand and any other stage magic that you know, but I'll also be capable of handling my own. I'll fill those shoes and get a personal experience as to why anyone would want to take on such a stupid job. I'll get the answers I want and you get the hero this city needs."

"You sure are as stubborn as both of your parents, aren't you? And just how in the hell do you think you're going to be ready for such a job in two months?"

"Because I have to." Eli answered. "Not for the city. Not for Cheshire Square. But for my dad. I need to do this for him."

There was another pause and Eli was sure that his bullshitting had finally met its match. Nick was apparently not buying Eli's speech at all, not that Eli could blame him. Eli really wanted to just keep the files that he had with little to no care about the city in general. But, Eli figured that if he put on a mask and at least kept Cheshire Square safe, then he would technically be a hero and, per this agreement, would be able to keep the laptop.

To Eli, this was a fair trade. Suicidal, maybe, but fair to say the least. Cheshire Square was not that big and the only problems it had stemmed from the Saints Row Children. Therefore, he would not be in the same company as his father was.

"You think," Nick began, his tone showing just how annoyed and angered he was. "That you can just put on a mask and run around here screaming you're the good guy?"

"Not really…"

"Do you even know what being a good guy means? Hell, do you even know how to be a good son to your mum?" The shot to his private life caused Eli to sit up, angrily staring at the man. "I'm going to make this as blunt as I can kid. You are in no shape, physically or mentally, to become what this city needs. You're selfish and fixated on getting answers you don't need now."

"What's your point?" growled Eli.

"My point? You're that bloody stubborn, eh? You really want to go around, getting shot at for a laptop? Fine! Be my guest mate!" Nick relented as he sat back in his seat. "But I'll tell you this, I will not take the fall for your death. If and when Leila finds out, this is all on you."

Eli studied Nick's posture now. It was clearly seen and heard that the man was not pleased. Though, Eli got the feeling that Nick's discomfort was not directed towards Eli. Instead, Eli felt as if it came from a talk that Nick most likely had with Malcolm.

"Nick," Eli spoke calmly and carefully. "This is what I want. You said you'd give me what I want in exchange for the laptop and files and this is what I truly want. I'm not asking you to train me. I'm not asking you to help me. All I'm asking from you is to just honor your deal."

Nick took his glasses off and rubbed the lens with the bottom of his shirt. Eli watched the man carefully as it looked like Nick was taking a second to mull over the offer. Then, with actions faster than Eli could react to, the man threw an object that whizzed right by Eli's ear and hit something with a solid thud.

"You learn to do that in two months and you got yourself a deal." Nick said. Eli swallowed before turning to see that there was now a dart sticking into the punching bag. "Deal?"

Eli turned back to Nick to see the man putting his glasses back on. There was no way that this man had said dart in his hands this entire time, let alone able to throw with such accuracy without his glasses on. However, that was a trick Eli figured he could learn about later. For now, he just nodded his head.

"Oh," Nick said. "And I guess it goes without saying that you will _never_ tell Leila that I'm helping you kill yourself, got it?"

"Yeah…" Eli answered before frowning in confusion. "Why the change of mind though?"

"American Revolution."

"…What?"

"The American Revolution was not fought by Americans. It was fought by immigrates who wanted independence and freedom." Nick elaborated as he began to shuffle the cards that were on the table. "That concept is something I believe this city needs."

"An immigrant wanting independence?" Eli questioned.

"A Bialyan kid who has a knack for annoying the hell out of people with a hundred questions." replied a grinning Nick. "Now pay attention kid. You only have two months and I'm debating that you'll learn it. Like I said, Miles may have believed otherwise, but you are not as smart as your mum."

Eli shrugged his shoulders. "Let's find out then."

* * *

Eli had stayed with Nick for as long as he possible could before he had to return back to Cheshire Square. Once more he found that riding the subway somehow reminded him of how tired he truly was, but pushed said exhaustion aside as soon as he was back in his home neighborhood. Crinkly Park was still packed with people even in the later hours of the evening, the setting sun not discouraging the kids there from having taking advantage of their summer vacation.

His thoughts wandered to a time where he and George would be one of those kids, having fun at the playground with little to no care about the dangers in the world. In fact, back then, the only truly scary thing was missing curfew and having to deal with their parents. And when Hannah joined Eli's group of friends, she brought more smarts to the group along with her New York toughness that made one think twice about picking on such a physically small girl.

Then… They drifted. George soon became a pawn in his brother's gang. Hannah and Eli dated and then broke up which made certain moments quite awkward. And Eli… He sort of withdrew into himself, focusing on the things such as basketball to prepare for a future for himself. No longer did they hang out at Crinkly's like they used to. No longer did they sneak off to Drayton Pier for the Winter Festival. They were just… Them.

"You know," Eli nearly jumped out of his skin at the Jade's voice beside him. "You should really pay more attention to who walks by you."

"Too busy worried about the SRC." Eli replied. "And a small Vietnamese chick does not portray a member of an all black gang."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Right, right. We'll just pretend that I didn't scare you shitless then." Eli looked over to his right to see a smirk morphing onto her face. "I thought you weren't afraid?"

"I never said that. I just said that I didn't care." pointed out Eli. "And what are you doing here?"

"Well for starters, I do live here for the moment." Eli caught on to her words and formed a question for a later time. "And, I guess I'm here for the same reason as you are. Training." Jade's thin brows knitted. "Which brings me to this question. What were you doing out and about? I was sure that you'd pass out after warm-ups this morning."

"I had to go meet up with a friend of my dad's. He's trying to get me to get my license so I can legally own my dad's Cherokee." Eli explained.

"Ah," The girl voiced. "You know, your not-really girlfriend stopped by earlier. I caught her when I came back to check for mail."

"She'll probably call." Eli told Jade.

Jade's smirk returned. "She asked me if you and I were seeing each other. I told her to ask you for that information, though I'm pretty sure she got the wrong idea."

"Hmm," vocalized the boy as they neared the steps to their apartment building. "Something tells me that you purposely gave her said idea."

"You're right again detective." Jade sang as they entered the building. "Ben was right. You _are_ smart!"

Eli's lips thinned in thought. He was sure that Ben and Jade had talked about him after he left earlier though he could not pinpoint exactly _what_ they would talk about. His worst fear was that the two had somehow concocted a scheme that would end in Eli's early demise. It was a thought that was heavily supported by new information about the pair.

"I think," Jade spoke, gaining Eli's attention. "That your friend put a hit out on me. There were several of guys staring at me earlier when I came back. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"You think I asked George to do so?" Eli asked as he took the key out to open his mailbox.

"It wouldn't be a stretch. You've been friends for a longtime apparently and have always had each other's back. Planning on getting rid of me for a favor for his brother does make sense." Jade answers with a shrug of her shoulders. "Which makes me wonder if you would ever think of something like that or not."

Eli chuckled. "And let Ben come hunt me down? I don't have to know the guy to know that he's no joke." Eli took his mail and closed the box, locking it. "Besides, I doubt George wants to be anywhere near you after last night. He's never been handled like that by a girl. Hurts his pride."

Jade only snorts in response as the pair made their way to the stairs. Eli noted that she looked quite prideful about her actions. Not that he could really blame her as George had been quite difficult to talk to last night. However, George's intentions- bad or not- were not directed towards Jade whatsoever; but only to Eli. Eli did not know what truly forced Jade to physically attack George. While it could have been because George ruined a roughly good day, Eli doubted that Jade cared that much about their time together for George to have ruined anything.

"You know," Jade said as Eli made a stop to his apartment to sit the mail on the table. "You never mentioned your dad was a vigilante."

"Point?" Eli asked as he opened his apartment door.

"Point is that's something pretty big about this city. Even I know that." Jade commented.

Eli sighed as he threw the mail on the table and turned to Jade.

"He was. He died. End of story." Jade's brows rose. "What?"

"I get it. You don't like talking about it." Jade said. "But why? It's not like he was one of those wackos trying to blow the city up for a quadrillion dollars, right?"

"Worse," Eli answered as he closed and locked his apartment door. "He was one of those foolish enough to think he could save this city from the shit that we're always in."

Jade clicked her tongue noisily. "I see."

"And now I have to find out why he did it." Jade's face showed Eli that she needed more of an explanation. "When normal people want to help the world, they become doctors, cops, teachers, nuns. Those type of things. My dad was in the army. He fought in Qurac. But for some reason, that wasn't enough. Why? I don't know now, but I will. Trust me."

Jade's lips thinned. "You do know that you're most likely going to become a vigilante yourself if you continue to walk in his shoes, right?"

"Hopefully, I'll be able to stop once I get my answers." Eli responded while the two walked up the steps.

"Or?"

"Or I'll die just like he did. An idiot trying to find answers to fix a problem."

Eli's answer put an uneasy silence between the two, one that remained until they arrived at Ben and Jade's apartment. Jade unlocked the door with her key before leading Eli inside. Ben was currently there, silently meditating in the middle of the floor.

"You're early," Ben's voice rang out before he opened his eyes to stare at the teens. "Are you ready to begin your training, Eli?"

Eli nods. "I am."

"I learned quite a few things about you," Ben said standing as he spoke. "Or your father, I should say. He too had a strong conviction, determined to help this city in ways that very few brave to do so. But he, like many others, was bound to fail."

"How do you figure that?" questioned Eli, careful to make sure his anger was not heard.

"He restrained himself." Ben answered. "He stopped himself from completing his duties due to a moral code. Many so-called masked heroes have them. They gain the ability to ultimately save the day, but when they have the chance to stop a terrorist or attempt to take him in before he destroys half the city, they always go to take him in. During the struggle, hundreds die, and in the end, said terrorist escapes anyway. That isn't a 'hero'. Not to me and not to those who don't survive the fight."

Eli took in a deep breath, his anger long forgotten by the end of the speech. He agreed with what Ben said. Whenever there was a fallen hero shown on the news, it was normally due to them hoping to talk the gunman out of shooting and failing. Malcolm's death had been different but most of them died in this fashion. Eli never understood why and had just given up trying to find reason in their faults. Apparently Ben also saw the problem.

"I have clothes for you to train in." Ben continued, staring at Eli. "You will wear this when you train with me. I will also need your number to tell you when and where training is. Much like this morning, follow my instructions without questions. Got it?"

"Yes sir." Eli answered.

"Good," Ben stated. "Jade, take him to the back to get ready."

Jade motioned Eli to follow her which he did.

"Your dad must have been a good man," Eli heard Ben say, causing the teen to pause. "In order to know why he did what he did, you have to let go of your anger that he died. Or else."

Eli swallowed quietly before looking upwards.

"I'll try…"

* * *

Eli had said that he would be home by nine, it was now eleven. For one Leila Nolan, that was not okay. She had already called Hannah but the girl had no idea where her son was. That only left George and Leila was not a fan of the teenager who more than likely dragged her son off to some random drug-filled party.

The woman sighed heavily as she leaned against the refrigerator in her kitchen, the back of her head resting on the appliance with her arms folded in front of her. This was not supposed to be easy. That was Leila's mantra when she knew that Malcolm had passed and Eli was going to be living with her and her husband. It was not supposed to be easy. Eli was unyielding and refused to do a lot that he was asked. He was not just a typical teenager, he was _her_ typical teenager. And that put him in a class of stubborn where very few resided.

So again, this was not supposed to be easy, much like quitting smoking. Though, Leila mused, there was a huge difference between stop smoking and raising a teenage Eli. In order for her to stop smoking, she would need more conviction and willpower, support from her family, and a new habit to replace it. That was simple. But Eli… He would need a lot more than that.

"You're still up?" Robert asked as he trudged into the kitchen, t-shirt and boxers on. "Lily, you should at least prepare for bed. Eli's alright."

The woman gave her husband a dark glance.

"He is a seventeen-year-old teenager from Cheshire Square who just lost his father. He is _not_ alright." Leila returned.

Robert sighed. "I don't know what you want me to tell you Lily. Eli is your son. He's stronger than you know."

"I know how strong he is, Robert. That's not what I'm worried about." Leila argued.

"Then what are you worried about?" interrogated her husband.

Leila took in a deep breath. "I'm worried that he'll leave. I can't… I can't protect him if he leaves."

"Like you did?"

"Like Malcolm did," Leila snapped back. "Malcolm left every night. He left Elias, _our son_ , to run out and save this damned city. And Elias is so determined to find out why."

"How do you know this? Eli could-"

"I know my son, Robert. He's angry and fixated on this problem and it'll lead him to more trouble than necessary." Leila cut off. "Elias is not like Sam and he never will be. I just pray that Sam also doesn't become like Eli…"

Robert silently looked at his wife as her eyes drifted to the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. He was no stranger to watching the woman stay up late nights deep in thought, there were more times than he could count. But he had never seen her worry this much before. Then again Leila Rassan- his Lily Nolan- did not worry about anything. She found problems, she found solutions, and then she moved on.

"Eli is fine. He probably went to a party and forgot to call and tell you. You know what it's like to be young Lily." Robert caught his mistake when brown eyes glared at him again. "I don't think he'd get involved with the SRC, not after the whole ordeal with Sam. Or maybe he was doing his job applications like he said and just fell asleep? He's been pulling all-nighters. Even I can hear him typing on that laptop of his some mornings when I return."

Leila took in another deep breath. "I'll be upstairs in a few. I just want to wait for him a little longer."

"I can stay-"

"No," Leila interrupted. "This is between me and my son."

Knowing better than to argue at the late hour, Robert nods and gives his wife a smile.

"Fine Lily," Robert said, his smile never falling. "And just so you know, Eli loves you. He's just intimidated to tell you."

Leila raised a brow. "He is?"

"I was afraid to tell you that I loved you too, remember?" Robert joked. "Not only could you have ripped my head off metaphorically, you did have a six-foot four muscled body guard that could do it physically."

Leila smiles. "Malcolm would not have hurt you. I doubt he would have done anything to anyone I said that I was in love with."

"Doesn't stop it from being any less terrifying with him around." Robert said. "Just… Just let Eli come to you, like teaching Sam to walk. Eventually he will take those first steps to you. All you have to do is stand with your arms open."

With those words of wisdom, Robert left his wife in the kitchen. Leila watched the man exit while consciously rubbing the band of her wedding ring. She needed to smoke at the moment and she was patiently waiting for signs to show her that it was alright to do so.

Robert was right about one thing though. Eli was her son. He was bred to have the natural instincts to navigate throughout the streets of New Camford with little to no worry. It was a trait that Leila noticed that Sam lacked; the natural survival instinct. Eli cried when he fell off of the bar stool only after retrieving his cup from off the counter. Sam cried because his cup was on the counter and he could not reach it.

However, that was all that Robert was right about. Leila knew for a fact that no matter how long she waited with her arms opened, Eli would never see this as his home and would always wander away. It scared her, especially considering that he was going into his senior year at high school. He was not just growing away from her but he was growing up. His dependence on his parents- both she and Malcolm alike- was lessening by the seconds and therefore he would not necessarily walk to her. Maybe walk near her. Probably walk by her. But not walk _to_ her.

After waiting twenty minutes, Leila stepped out onto the back porch and reached into the pockets of her dress pants to retrieve her lighter and the cigarette she had retrieved just for this moment. Her mind traveled back to a simpler time. Back to a time when she could come home and see Eli with wide brown eyes tell her whatever it is that his dad had done. Back to when Eli would choose to sit up against her and ask her to read to him or watch TV. Back when he "wasn't afraid of thunder" but always found his parents during times of a storm to make sure that "they were alright".

Leila chuckles as she exhales a cloud of smoke.

Memories proved to be a great getaway nowadays. And not just about Eli, but Malcolm as well. Times such as when the two first met before her first year at Gotham State or when he returned back from the army and tracked her down to New Camford. Back then, she had recently graduated from the University of Connecticut in Ivy Town (sometimes referred to as Ivy University or Conn-4) and was living in her first solo-owned apartment without the need of a roommate or government aid. She remembers how swiftly Malcolm was able to organize her at-home office- which later became Eli's bedroom- and always made sure that she ate something before bed, even carrying her to the kitchen sometimes. And those nights where Malcolm's friends would come by for guys' night and how he would refer to her anger…

The Bialyan warrior.

Another laugh escapes Leila before she intakes another puff of her cigarette. Of all the schools that could have accepted a seventeen-year-old graduate, Gotham State University was the school that did. And out of all the guys that could have hit on a lonely girl working as a waitress in the East End, it was Malcolm who came up to her and asked her to walk her home. Of course, she declined the offer for approximately three weeks straight before giving in. But nonetheless, she waited for him to return the next night to walk her home, just like she waited for him to return from the army.

Yet, Leila still found herself waiting for her Malcolm to return from Qurac.

The sound of the door opening startled Leila. She was seconds away from discarding her cigarette before she spotted Eli. Her facial features softened at his appearance, seeing him obviously exhausted as if he had spent the last five hours at a gym or something.

"I'm sorry," Eli spoke quietly, moving to sit in one of the lawn chairs. "I got caught up with Mr. Turner."

"Who?" Leila asked.

Eli waved her off. "A guy who lives at the apartment building. Promised to teach me some crazy form of karate." Leila let the explanation go for now but was more than determined to ask questions tomorrow. "I stopped by Nick's as well. He says hi."

"I'm guessing you wanted to find out why your dad did what he did, huh?" Eli nodded, now staring out into the backyard. "Did you find your answer?"

"No. He didn't know."

Leila stood silently as she watched her oldest son in deep thought. Her motherly instincts were begging her to question him more and find out what he was really up to, but she knew that that would just push Eli away. But, again, tomorrow she will ask for the entire truth.

"I never knew you met Dad in Gotham," Eli said, now looking at Leila. "When you said that you met him in school, I thought you meant that you went to Cam State."

Leila shook her head. "No. I never went there. I went to Gotham State in eighty-eight and then Ivy Town in ninety-one, class of ninety-five."

"And the apartment was yours?" Eli questioned.

"Up until you, it was my most prized possession." Leila explained as she finished her cigarette. "Years of working in a diner and then as a paralegal, I finally got enough money to move away from my sex-crazed roommate." Leila grinned at the thought. "Your dad hated Maria. But he knew her from when they were kids, Carla's friend."

Eli actually grinned. "I can see Aunt Carla having a wild friend. Mal's a lot like that."

Leila nodded. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree in the Jackson Family, or so I'm told." Her eyes studied his grinning features for a moment. "And why do you need this 'crazy form of karate'?"

"It was either that or buying a gun. I chose to learn self-defense for free." Eli answered, his smile no longer present. "He's a good guy, Mr. Turner. Just moved in upstairs with his goddaughter, Jade."

"The same Jade Hannah told me about?" Eli muttered something incoherent before looking away. "Is she the same girl, Elias?"

"Yes, Mama, she is," Eli droned out. "Anything else that you want to know? Because I honestly can't tell you other than her name, a brief description, and where she lives. All of her personal information is solely hers."

Sensing strife rising between the two, Leila sighed.

"I just wanted to know," Leila said as she stepped for the chair beside Eli's. "Did you find a job?"

"…" Eli's silence did not bode well for Leila, and she found herself glaring at her son for a definite answer. "I left the laptop at the apartment."

"You can use mine." Eli gave his mother an odd look. "What? I'm old enough to share, Elias."

Eli just stared at her for a full minute before speaking once more.

"It's a job working for some youth program at Stagg Industries." Eli elaborated. "I'd be working Saturdays and probably a few other days during the week, but it's just to help the kids that were taken in."

Now Leila was shocked. "You are working with _children_?" Eli nodded his head. "Well… I can't say that I predicted that… But a deal is a deal. So long as it keeps the apartment and you keep your grades up, then the deal still stands."

"Nick told me not to tell you this," Eli began. "But he's teaching me to drive so I can get my license. So I might be with him for the next few weeks."

"If he told me not to tell you," Leila began. "Then why tell me?"

Eli shrugged. "You'd figure that something was up sooner or later. I thought I might as well save us both the time." Another small pause came before Eli gave Leila a confused look. "Were you ever afraid?"

"Of what?"

"When you came to Gotham City," Eli expounded. "Were you ever afraid of failing?"

Leila pursed her lips, believing that there was some reason behind his question but could not pinpoint it at the time. Yet, at the same time, he seemed genuinely concerned and interested in her answer.

"I crossed the border into Qurac and left with a group of men and women fleeing the country. The plane eventually took us to a port within Saudi Arabia where people were asked to show identification and reasons for leaving our homeland. I had fifty American dollars, a fake ID, books, and clothes. By the time I arrived to Gotham City, fear had long been out of my system." Leila answered.

She watched her son sit and digest the information. Once again, she got the feeling that he was actually interested in her past. Leila figured that maybe Nick had given Eli this interest about her past but was not sure. Maybe Eli was just curious?

"I guess that makes sense," Eli finally stated. "Though I didn't know you knew a friend of Aunt Carla's. How'd that sit well with Dad?"

Now Leila laughs. "How do you think? He told me of all the reasons that Maria was bad. He'd even send your aunt over to make sure Maria didn't interrupt my studying." Leila's giggles slowly died out. "To Malcolm, no one could have a problem that he couldn't fix, especially his loved ones. He'd fix the problem, even if it killed him."

"Nick says that I remind him of you, or a younger male version." Eli commented. "He said…" Eli's words were interrupted by a yawn that took the teen by surprise. "He said that I was a 'Bialyan kid with American problems'. Dad obviously said it a lot as well."

"Eli," Leila said with a warm smile. "Get some sleep. You're tired."

"I'm fine Mama. Mr. Turner's workouts just wore me out a little, but I'm fine." Eli halfheartedly argued. Despite his determination, his eyes were slowly closing.

"You and I both need rest Eli. Let's go to bed and we'll talk more tomorrow night." Leila said as she rose. "Come on. You need to get to bed."

"Fine," the teen blew out in exasperation. Leila's brows rose in amusement as he stood up and stretched, his eyes soon locking onto hers again. "But I want to know something. Qurac isn't an ally of Bialya or the U.S. How'd you sneak onto a plane in Qurac?"

Leila's face twisted for all of thirty seconds before she sighed heavily and relaxed.

"Tomorrow, I will explain. Tonight, you rest." Leila said. "And don't stay up doing whatever it is you do, understood?"

"Sure Mama." Eli said, already heading for the backdoor. "Good night."

"Good night Elias."

Leila watched her son disappear into the house, losing track of him as soon as he exited the kitchen. Her worry had not left her body and neither had her curiosity as to what he and most likely this Jade girl had been up to. However, she was more than pleased to see that Eli willingly came back, even with a few excuses for his tardiness.

Maybe it would get easier?

* * *

Author's Notes: So here is the second part of the chapter with a small clue as to how Eli will be as a hero/vigilante. With this here, I do want to remind a few that this story has _nothing_ to do with Young Justice- the TV series that is. So do not expect Artemis/Artemis Crock to just show up and be Jade's sister because that's not going to happen. Also, Ben's and Nick's training will continue for a year so even while Eli is out doing what he will eventually do, they will still train him- much like Jake's training with the League of Assassins in Shattered Persona. There will be a time skip between this and next chapter, also next chapter will show a little "nightcap" with Jade and Eli. Finally, if you have any questions, thoughts, or comments leave a PM or a review and I'll reply during the next review corner. Till then, enjoy the rest of your holidays and see you next year.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Notes:** Been a while, huh? Well here you go. Next chapter of Eli's story is finally here. Enjoy.

 **Chapter Warnings:** This chapter is rated T for teen for mild swearing and violence.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Seven: Work Shifts

Three weeks. That's how long it took for Eli to finally get used to the changes that were going on within and around him. His body was constantly in pain from Ben's training, and thus he felt little pain from anything else. His fingers constantly twitched from all of Nick's teachings which made it tough to type at the end of the day. Yet, despite all of this, he kept up enough of a charade to keep his mother and stepfather from worrying too much.

Eli had also regained some trust with George as George had stopped by Eli's apartment to talk a week ago. George had, in so many words, apologized for what happened at Crinkly Park. It was obvious to Eli that it was insincere but he accepted the apology nonetheless.

Eli had met up with Hannah three times during the three weeks. With him running back and forth from Nick's, Jade's, and work, the two had very little time to see each other as Eli was normally busy or too tired to meet up with her during Hannah's free time. Of course, during their last meeting, Jade had appeared at Eli's door and their time had been cut short due to Jade's presence.

Jade had yet to stop teasing Eli about that incident.

Speaking of the Vietnamese girl, she had been quite the help for Ben's training. Jade had done a great job in going further into detail about the Dragon Style Kung-Fu and its origins. She had even gone as far as taken Eli "running" with her, which included a dangerous jog across rooftops in Cheshire Square. As athletic and brave as Eli was, he had never been so close to fainting in fear as he was the first night Jade leapt from one building to another and dared him to follow. Eli theorized that his competitive nature is what really carried him from one building to the next while his common sense and fear haunted him all the way home that night.

And again, Jade had yet to stop teasing Eli about this incident as well.

As for work, Eli has slowly come to enjoy his new work area. The kids there, who ranged from ages four to fifteen, were not as bad as he thought and the pay was relatively good for a few days on job. He normally worked with a guy named Pete Janson, who was not a bad co-worker per se. Pete obviously did not like the kids and it was apparent that they had similar thoughts of him. However, Pete spoke about his parents who normally held charity events in Madison to support the Rebecca Fairhaven Children's Home (an orphanage located in Ivy Town) and how they were quite strict about him learning how to interact with children. Eli and Pete did not always see eye-to-eye but they both could relate to overbearing hardworking parents.

Eli sighed as he sat on his bed, the next problem in his mind being larger than the other thoughts. Then again, Leila was not necessarily a problem. No. She was. She was a big problem. And then she wasn't.

Eli shook his head; his hands going over the freshly cut hairs of his head. His mom was something hard to pin down. He knew that she was trying to create some bond that was never there but he was not always ready for her advances in the area. There were times when she was obviously angry and said nothing- oddly this bothered Eli _greatly_ \- and then there were times when she was lecturing over something small that had occurred months ago. Leila was also very skeptical whenever Eli watched Sam without adult supervision, but never stopped Sam from wanting to go with Eli.

Nights with Leila got stranger now. Their talks now started with Eli being late for whatever reason. From there, they would talk about a past event that most likely included a too-young-to-remember Eli and his happy parents. A silence would follow that and then one of them would go to bed before any more emotions could be revealed. Some nights, Eli would leave Leila out in the back to smoke her cigarettes or stare deeply at the stars and others Leila would leave her son to his throbbing body and his thoughts.

"Eli," Leila called from the other side of Eli's closed door. "Don't forget to pack before work. We leave for Metropolis tonight, so don't be late."

Eli remained silent. He had called Mallory the previous day to rant about being forced to spend the Fourth of July at Robert's parents' place in Metropolis instead of going to Gotham City to see Mallory. While Eli was pissed that he would not be going to see his relatives down in Gotham, he was even more annoyed that he would have to spend the holiday with Robert's family.

But it was the deal he made with his mom. Family events like this were a must-show for him and he could not just avoid them.

"Elias?" Leila's voice dragged him back out of his thoughts.

"My things are at the apartment." Eli called back.

"Then go there. I will pick you up after work, so don't go to any parties Elias." Leila ordered.

"Whatever…" Eli muttered beneath his breath.

Eli figured that his mother probably did not hear him and just left as she did not wait for him to give her a louder, clearer response. This left Eli with two thoughts on his mind. The first thought was that he would have to listen to Mallory, for less of a better word, bitch about him not coming to Gotham. The second thought was that he would have to deal with Mallory after spending hours with hyper orphaned kids.

Standing up, the teen stretched while already hating his day. The kids were manageable. It was his co-worker that he had a problem with. Pete's lackluster attitude sometimes caught the kids' attention and Eli was, for whatever reason, the one that had to make it seem like Pete wanted to be around them.

And it was becoming increasingly difficult to lie to a bunch of kids who seemed way smarter than they should be.

The buzzing of his vibrating cell phone caused Eli to release another sigh of detestation as he grabbed the device off of his dresser.

"Hello?" he answered without bothering to see who it was.

"So you're not dead. Good." Jade's voice came over the receiver. "I thought for sure that last night you'd seriously pass out on the bus or something and end up in Ivy Town."

Eli let out a tired breath. "Is there a reason you're calling this early Jade?"

"You're leaving tonight, right? So I was thinking that we could do some runs after you're off." Jade said. "I, um, need to get some information on my dad and, as you've noticed, Ben has forbidden me in doing anything to the man. So I was wondering if you would get in trouble with me, again."

Eli hummed in thought. Ben has made it clear to both Jade and Eli that he did not want Jade going anywhere near her biological father. Eli assumed that it was more on Jade's part than on this mysterious man's fault but said nothing aloud about it. So Eli never really questioned why Jade hardly brought up any topic about her dad around Ben and understood completely when Jade went on her little "missions" to find out any information about the guy.

However, the last time the two had run off to find information about Jade's father- who Eli still did not know the identification of- Ben had tracked them down and stopped them. The consequence was more heavy training and a morning after filled with sore muscles and headaches. Eli had been cautious about hinting anything to do with Jade's dad around Ben in fear of the same thing happening again and Jade wholeheartedly followed suit.

"So what do you say? You in or not?" Jade asked. "Or do you have plans with Hannah?"

"No, I don't have plans with anyone yet." Eli answered. "And why are you going after your dad again? I thought Ben told you to leave the guy alone?"

Jade scoffed. "Boy scout… And for your information, Ben left earlier for some meeting. He won't be back until tomorrow which means that I have all day today to do what I want. And I want to get this information." Jade paused. "Besides, I hear a certain Russian snitch will be there. Maybe you can get some answers as well."

Her tactic was simple, even Eli noticed that. Jade was going to make Eli want to find this informant as much as she did. Sadly, it was working.

"If we do this," Eli said. "It will have to be fast. I'm leaving for Metropolis tonight with my mom. I can't be late with her or else."

"Sure. I'll grab some gear and meet you after work." Jade responded. "Just make sure that your not-girlfriend doesn't get jealous, again."

That was how the call ended, with Jade snickering before hanging up. Eli simply tossed his phone behind him onto his bed with a small sigh.

In his mind, he knew how this was going to go. Somehow, someway, Ben would find out what they did and they would have more exercises for whenever Eli returned from Metropolis. And if it was anything like the last one they did, they would come up empty-handed anyway. Or at least Jade would. Eli had an opportunity to get information before Ben appeared and sent them home.

Getting out of bed, the teen stretched his arms above his head while closing his eyes and inhaling deeply. He had to recount his steps momentarily to figure out his best line of action. He and Nick had yet to pinpoint where Bookworm was, though from the Army Ant's journal, the murderer was still within New Camford. Venice Terrace was still the focal point of their investigation but other neighborhoods were now being viewed. So now he had to figure out how to search for Bookworm without gaining attention from his mentor and his mother. And Jade. He had to do this without getting Jade involved.

Lowering his arms and opening his eyes, Eli glanced towards the blinds that attempted to shield his face from the incoming sun rays. Just from what had already occurred that morning, he knew it would be a long day ahead of him. He just hoped that it didn't end with Ben enforcing another extra hour of workouts.

Or worse, his mother finding out…

* * *

The Stagg Youth Center was stationed just outside of the Madison neighborhood, making it roughly ten minutes away from Nick's house by car, if that. The building itself was nothing grand and appeared to be a small elementary school at first glance. The front driveway was a semi-circle around the brick sign that held the institution's name as well as the three flags that flew behind said sign; the state flag, the American flag, and the City of New Camford's flag. There were two parking lots at the building. The first one was located in the front of the building, east of the driveway. The second one was gravel and located in the back of the building near the fields. That's where the Stagg Youth Center bus could be found.

The glass doors in the front of the building were as clean as they always were; a heavy contrast to the mess that the kids living here could really make. And while most of them meant no harm, Eli has come to know why some adults refer to kids as "little monsters".

Heading for the front office to pick up the day's schedule, Eli made sure to turn his phone on vibrate. While emergencies were allowed while on the job, casual calls were not and Eli would rather not allow his boss, Miss Reynolds, or- heaven forbid- Sapphire come down and see him on the phone talking to Hannah.

"Eli," The Italian American woman named Elizabeth Reynolds called to him as he stepped into the carpeted room. The "slightly plumped" woman sat at her desk with a doughnut on a folded napkin in front of her next to a mug of coffee. "How are you this morning?"

"A little tired, but I can manage." Eli answered as he walked into the large office. "Is Pete here yet? I didn't see his car."

Miss Reynolds scoffed. "No. He called and said he was running late so that means that when Darcy and Cedric leave, you'll be watching them alone."

Eli did not openly respond to the statement as he sighed quietly. The woman at her desk was always one to give him and his co-workers bad news. Worse, the five-foot woman always dared the young adults helping out in the center to fuss about the news.

"They have both clipboards?" Eli questioned.

"They do." Miss Reynolds said as she fixed her red-framed glasses. "As I told them when they came in earlier, Ms. Stagg will be hosting a fundraiser next Friday which means that you all will be in and out doing shifts all week. Will you need transportation?"

"I have a ride," responded Eli as he stared at the tanned- though not as dark as himself- woman. "Is there a schedule already printed for next week?"

"No."

Eli almost rolled his eyes at the statement. A problem with his boss was that she could procrastinate quite a bit when she felt like it and it normally meant that he had to do last minute changes to his plans because of it. Either that, or someone just had to run it by Stagg Industries that there was not a written statement of the plans for the kids and Sapphire would soon rectify that herself.

"Alright," Eli said as he retrieved his work badge from his back pocket and placed it around his neck. "I'll go ahead and get started."

Miss Reynolds's face scrunched up as she looked at the small wrist watch on her left wrist.

"You're five minutes early." she announced.

"Which means I'm on time." Eli responded as he turned to leave.

"Eli," Miss Reynolds stopped him from leaving. "I also want to tell you about another sponsor the home may be receiving. It's from Pearson and Gardiner." There was a pregnant pause. "That is your mother's firm, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Ms. Stagg wants to send her thanks." Miss Reynolds said. "Hopefully she will be the fundraiser Friday with one of her bosses."

"I'll ask later."

Eli did not stick around to hear any more. Leila had made several attempts to reconnect with her eldest son, some successful and others were not. Eli knew that if his mother had a hand in the donation to the home, then this was more than likely another attempt to bond with him and not for the kids' happiness. This is where Eli had the problem though. Bonding at home was one thing. Interfering at the other's work place was something different.

Although, what Eli has learned these few weeks have been significant in the change of view of his mother. He once thought that she was just a controlling woman who wanted more material things than his father was able to provide. Now he knew that there were other things about Leila that were important to figuring out- not only who she was- but who his father was.

Firstly, Leila had cut her hair once. That is how she snuck into Qurac, by cutting her hair and impersonating a young Quraci boy. From there, the teen would venture to Saudi Arabia where she went through several custom protocols and student examinations. Getting something akin to her GED, she would leave for Gotham City, a place where Leila had described to be the "grayest city in America", where she applied to and attended Gotham State University.

During this time she met the guy that would become Eli's father.

Eli had never heard the full story how his parents met due to him never caring to ask. But after Leila's account, he got a better image on who his parents were and who they became. Malcolm has been and always would be Leila's guardian angel, even when she did not want him to be. Miles would give Leila the "Bialyan Warrior" nickname and she would tell Miles about the town she was born in, Ahbyzin, and the city she moved to, Al-Qawiya- the capital of Bialya.

Eli snorted quietly. Leila's account of Ahbyzin (pronounced ah-biz-zeen) was quite colorful, and not in a good way. Leila admitted that she did not grow up poor- without going into detail about what her parents did to provide for her- but made it her mission to make the city appear to be hell on Earth. Leila would go on and describe how Gotham City seemed to be a more modernized version of her hometown.

She compared Al-Qawiya (Leila made a point to say it as kuh-wee-ya) to New Camford, a reason she chose to live in the city despite working in Ivy Town. Despite the fact that there was not a beach in Al-Qawiya, Leila likened the people of New Camford to those of her former city. She pointed out key things like the mixture of Bialyan, Iranian, Persian, and Kahndaq influences in Al-Qawiya was almost identical the mix of European cultures that could be found in New Camford, going as far as saying that both cities were the respective "mutts" of their states.

Yet…

Yet Leila ended several of their nightly talks whenever Eli would question about her family. Till this day, he knew that he had grandparents (who he assumed were still living), three maternal uncles (two older than Leila), and an aunt younger than his mother. Leila never gave names. She never gave facial description or how they acted. Just that they were there and then she left. Hell, he never got a good reason as to _why_ she left. She just did. And that angered him.

That, and she had yet to tell him whatever she was going to say weeks ago. She still felt as if he was still "too angry" to know.

"Eli's here!" Eli sighed heavily at his co-worker's announcement as he stepped into the recreational room.

The orphanage was divided into two groups; the younger kids and then the teenagers. There were times when all the kids were placed together but different workers had different kids to work with. Sapphire had described it like a school. Eli had to deal with the elementary kids and there were times when they would visit the junior high or high school kids. It seemed simple on paper but there were times when Eli believes that he got the worst end of the deal.

"You're here early," the brunette who announced his arrival said to him. Her hair cut in a stylish pixie cut with a sweeping bang that drew attention to her clear blue eyes. "Hate to say that Pete isn't here yet."

"I know." Eli muttered. "This is the third time he's done this too."

Darcy, the brunette, shrugged her pale thin shoulders.

"We tried to tell you when you took the job. Just sucks that you're genuinely a nice guy." Darcy spoke quietly before eying the nine children playing with various toys in the room. "I think that he's doing it on purpose to help Fairhaven."

Eli let a smirk display on his face. "I doubt Pete's that smart to even think about that." Now Darcy grins as well. "Tell me that today is one of those days that someone's supposed to show. A magician. Ronald McDonald. Someone."

"Afraid not. Worse, Collin was late today as well so breakfast wasn't even ready when Cedric and I got here. Imagine the riot that went throughout the hallways." Darcy mused. "I tell you, these kids some days…"

Eli released a heavy breath. Darcy was currently nineteen with the oldest resident here would be sixteen in a few weeks. Despite this and the fact that Eli was just seventeen, she always spoke as if there was a major age gap between those living in the home and the teenage help that Sapphire had acquired. It was something that never bothered Eli or Darcy's partner Cedric, but Pete chose to call attention to the fact that Eli and Jack- another worker who was few months younger than Eli- were only a year older than the oldest child under Stagg's care.

"Hey man, you're here early." Cedric said as he neared the duo.

Cedric and Eli were roughly the same height, three inches taller than the short German descendant beside Eli. Cedric was one of only two African-American aids at the program (three if Eli included himself) and was noticeably darker than the rest. Yet, despite the stereotype that came with the cornrows in his head and his knack for baggy, hardly-fitting jeans, Cedric was quite smart, a nice guy, and loved working with children due to the four younger brothers and sisters he grew up with. While Darcy was currently working here and another job elsewhere (Eli never asked where), Cedric worked here during his downtime from his classes at New Camford State University; mostly referred to as Cam State.

"Had to leave early," was Eli's only response. "Darcy told me about Collin being late."

Cedric simply shook his head with a shrug, causing Eli to grin slightly. Cedric and Darcy were two completely different people with different backgrounds. Yet, the punk-rock and Pop listening girl who had a knack for the colors black and purple was quite close to the country-listening back-up quarterback for Cam State. It got to the point where they would mirror each other's actions without trying to mimic one another.

"It was chaos, I can say that." Cedric finally said. "Pete running late too?" Eli nodded. "Sucks."

"Rich guys can get away with it." Darcy quietly quips.

Cedric chuckled. "You say that in front of the guy from Mancastle?"

Eli grunted, though smile at the comment. Darcy lived somewhere in Madison with her grandparents while Cedric lived on campus in the downtown area of the city where Cam State was located. They, much like Eli, had stereotyped those who lived in the Mancastle Hills and McIntyre neighborhoods to be rich, perky, and somewhat stuck-up people. And now, regardless of how Eli felt about it, he was included in that category due to him moving in with his mom and stepdad.

"Miss Reynolds said that you two were leaving before lunch." Eli said. "Is that true?"

He hoped that it wasn't. Not that the kids that they watched were particularly bad or anything, he just felt better when he was not as outnumbered with them as he normally was with Pete. Once again, while Pete was not a bad worker, the kids really had a problem talking to him.

Darcy nodded. "Yeah. Luke wanted to have lunch with me." Eli saw Cedric subtly roll his eyes upward at the mentioning of Darcy's less-than-smart boyfriend. "Plus they're sending us up to Happy Harbor next weekend."

"Really?" Eli frowned with his statement, eyes locking onto Cedric's.

"Yeah," Cedric elaborated. "You know the fundraiser coming up?" Cedric paused and waited for Eli to nod. "Well, they wanted the kids in the program across the board to know and be there. I hear it's supposed to be in Gotham; where the Stagg Industries headquarters is at."

"Oh…" Eli muttered, drawing a frown on Darcy's face.

"You hate Gotham or something?" the girl asked.

Eli shook his head. "No. In fact, I have family in Gotham. Most of my dad's family lives in the Gotham-Bludhaven area."

"Really? You never really talk about it." Darcy said. "In fact, you never really talk about your parents."

Eli glanced at Cedric who, after reading his co-worker's uneasiness, chose to step in to aid Eli.

"Do you know where they're stationing you during next week?" Cedric asked Eli.

"Miss Reynolds didn't tell me." answered Eli, thankful to have an escape from Darcy's question. "The way she was explaining it, we were all supposed to be here."

"Apparently," Darcy said. "The home in Gotham is short of workers and so we all have to get shifted around. And there are some kids from Suicide Slum that are giving the workers down in Metropolis a problem." Darcy sighed quietly. "I hate to think it, but we may have gotten lucky covering the New Ivy Metro area."

Eli had to nod at the statement. The New Ivy Metro described the larger New Camford and the smaller Ivy Town to the north of it. It was the area that Eli was stationed to work and talk to the children Sapphire wanted him to. And while there were one or two teenagers who were angry at the world about their position, Eli had heard of the news that came from other places like Boston, New York City, Gotham, and most recently, Metropolis.

"Well," stated Darcy. "I'm going to go say bye the kids. Luke should be here soon." Again, Eli spotted Cedric's look of disapproval of Darcy's boyfriend. "See you Tuesday?"

It took Cedric a moment to answer his co-worker. "Sure Darcy." The smirk on Eli's face caught the older boy's attention. "Not cool man."

"What?" Darcy asked as she stared at Eli.

"Nothing," spoke Eli as he walked towards the closest table to him. "See you later Darcy."

While Eli was friends with Cedric, there were times when teasing the college freshman over his obvious crush on Darcy became too much fun to avoid. Normally Eli, and Pete for that matter, steered clear of announcing it or hinting it around Darcy. However, with the day going the way it was now, Eli was more than alright with having some innocent fun with a co-worker.

"Morning Eli!" a group of children called to him.

Waving back, Eli allowed his mind to wander back to his time with Nick. The man had been educating Eli on the vigilantism that had been going on in the city. Not only that, but Nick had proven to Eli that Eli was nowhere up to par to even think about running around in a cape and mask. Nick's training put as much mental strain on Eli as Ben's training did physically. Things such as throwing darts in quick succession without missing a target, sneaking around the backyard without drawing too much attention, and studying old criminal cases that the Army Ant had done were just some of the things that Nick has forced Eli to do. This did not include Nick's studies in sleight of hand and escapology that put Eli's hands in severe pain.

"Hey Eli," Eli's attention went back to Cedric, who stood near the door alone now. "I'm out. Make sure you talk to your friend."

Eli gave a nod. "I will."

Cedric eyed the child in question before leaving, Eli soon looking at the girl seated at a table alone. The girl was five-year-old Britney, her current last name unknown and her parents not talked about outside of the office. The blonde was normally alone whenever the kids were free to do arts and crafts as she was different than the others, a difference Eli saw firsthand.

Going to her table, Eli gave the hazel-eyed girl a warm smile before squatting next to hoer.

"Morning Britney." he said, seeing her smile brightly at his arrival.

"Hi!" Her voice was, in a word, childish and Eli could always hear how cheerful or downhearted she really was.

"You didn't want to color with the other kids?" Eli questioned, watching her smile slowly disappear.

"No," Britney said. "Miss Reynolds told me that that wasn't a good idea."

Eli thought about his next response. From first glance, one could see the thin frame of a child who once suffered from malnutrition. Cedric had even told Eli to make sure Britney ate from time to time as the girl would sometimes claim that she was full during snack time without eating breakfast or lunch. Britney's small nose was almost always pink and her ears were normally covered by her long sun kissed blonde hair. Her round hazel eyes were always a key indicator to what she was really feeling or what she really wanted.

Yet, one physical description that was never supposed to be talked about was the rat tail that she normally kept tucked in her pants. Unfortunately, some of the older kids had heard about this and teased the girl about it, one of the many reasons that the younger kids were usually separated from the teens. During Eli's time with the teenagers, he had to speak about tolerance towards those different than they were, though he doubts that his speech meant much. Britney was still too afraid to get close to anyone but Eli, Cedric, and Darcy.

"Well," Eli began. "When we go outside, we're going to need even teams to play kickball and we would really like it if you joined us."

Britney wiggled her nose cutely. "But what about what Miss Reynolds said?"

"Don't worry about it." Eli told her before looking down at the paper in front of her. "What were you drawing?"

"Butterflies!" was Britney's gleeful cry as she held up the picture to him. "See?"

Eli looked at the three scribbled designs that roughly resembled that of three butterflies of alternate sizes and color; a small red one, a medium sized green one, and a large center-fold blue one. He mustered his biggest shocked face at the drawing to look impressed and was rather pleased when Britney's smile seemed to brighten at his reaction.

Once again, he found himself saved by a half-ass bullshit lie. Then again, it's not like he expected any of the kids here to be some prodigious artists in the making. It was pretty good for one without any schooling outside of the home.

"That's good Britney. You should keep this one." he told her. Her smile had Eli grinning a bit as well. "You're a better artist than I am."

As Britney continued to giggle with pride and glee, Eli's eyes traveled towards the wall-mounted digital clock posted next to the door. It was three minutes till nine at the moment which meant that he would be here for another eight hours. Then he would have to hurry to wherever Jade was to find out whatever they could before leaving with his mom and stepdad later tonight. That meant that he would have to try and preserve as much energy as possible for his "run" with Jade later on in order to avoid being too tired to even leave for Metropolis.

Good thing for him that both Nick and Ben had been training him in endurance.

* * *

"But I don't wanna!" Britney complained.

Eli took in a deep breath to keep calm while the blonde refused to let go of his legs. He had gotten off five minutes ago but had stayed a few extra minutes for the girl's sake. Now he was regretting it as Jade had already called him to meet up with her on the rooftop of their apartment building and he had not even begun his walk- though by now it was more of a jog- to the bus stop.

"Britney, you have to let go or else I'll be late getting home." Eli said, now prying her off of him. "I'll be back soon."

Britney's tearful eyes pained him greatly. He was sure that some of the workers here, the adults that stayed here around the clock that is, mistreated her due to her small mutation. It was painfully obvious to him and Cedric that this happened with the blessings from Miss Reynolds. However, there was nothing he could do without costing him his job and he would rather not make an enemy out of Miss Reynolds; at least not now.

"Britney," Eli said kneeling in front of her. "I have to go to Metropolis for a while but I will be back. Besides, Cedric and Darcy will be here. Even Pete."

"B-but I want you." Britney sobbed softly, causing Eli to inwardly wince. It was so much easier being a straight up asshole to Sam than it was to face Britney some days. He fancied the thought that it was due to him being Sam's older brother and thus being mean to the little boy from time to time came with the title.

"I will be back, I promise." Eli said rubbing her head. "So go back with the others and get ready for dinner, okay?"

"O-okay." she hiccupped before hugging Eli. "Bye-bye."

"Bye Britney." Eli said seconds before she released him and walked into the recreation's room. The teen sighed heavily as he stood up, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Finally…"

Turning around, Eli started his exit out of the building with a small bitter taste in his mouth. No, said taste did not come from leaving Britney in tears or her crying on him again. It came from his no-show co-worker. Around noon, Pete had called in "sick" and said that he would make it up sometime during the week. Miss Reynolds seemed pissed about it but the large woman did not even leave her office to deliver the message, let alone leaving her seat to do something about Pete's obvious lie.

So for eight hours, Eli dealt with the younger kids while two other helpers came for the older kids. If that was not bad enough, Eli could feel some of the staff members glaring at the blonde girl Cedric and he watched after so carefully. Lunch had been a prime example. It was apparent that Britney had gotten a smaller portion of fish sticks and macaroni and cheese than the others but she did not seem bothered by it.

Eli, however, was livid and he did not know why. He mentally questioned if he was mad about the fact that it was happening or because it was happening to Britney. He had failed to check to see if the all of the other kids got the same amount of food after Britney mostly because he was already so pissed that she did not get as much as those before her. And Collin was someone who did know about Britney's secret and had openly expressed his distaste for it.

"Tch," Eli blew out, now walking down the sidewalk in the warm New Camford evening.

This was New Camford, he figured, there was always some biased thought here or there. Gender, race, nationality, sexual orientation were just some of the reasons people based their opinions. However, for one mostly innocent little girl, it was because of a mutation she had no control over.

Maybe Sapphire should get involved?

His vibrating cell phone caught his attention and he quickly dug it out of his pocket to answer.

"Yeah."

"Hey, are you busy?" It was Hannah and she was apparently pleased about something.

"I just got off of work. What is it?" Eli replied.

"Well," his ex began. "My dad said he'd go car hunting with me tomorrow and I thought you'd help me plan ahead. You know, so I don't pick you up in a pink car with glitter seats."

Eli chuckled quietly. "Hannah, I doubt even you like glitter seats."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't." she said and he could practically hear the smile on her face. "So what do you say? Meet me at the diner in about twenty minutes and go online car shopping with me?"

"Uh," Eli began. "I can't. I have plans tonight."

"Oh…" responded Hannah. "Oh, okay. Just tell me that this does not have anything to do with George or some random party that he or his brother are throwing."

"No. Not George."

There was a pause and Eli counted down in his head until the Hispanic girl pinpointed who his plans were with.

"Is it Jade?" Eli remained quiet at her question. "It is, isn't it? I thought you said that you two weren't dating?"

"We're not. It's just… It's complicated." Eli said, mentally kicking himself for such a lame excuse. Of all the time his bullshitting brilliance failed him, it would be now.

"No, it's fine. Like I said, she's cute. I get it." Hannah told him. "So… I guess I'll see you after you return? We can catch up and talk cars or whatever."

"Hannah I-"

"Or not. I know when you're trying to be polite about blowing me off." she interrupted.

"No, that's not it. I'm just…" he paused and took in a deep breath, preparing himself for words he hardly said to anyone, anywhere, at any given time. "It's just that I'm sorry about this. This is something important and I know that your knowledge on the American automobile can be compared to George's understanding of the English language."

This invoked a laugh from Hannah, one that Eli was glad to hear.

"I'm not _that_ hopeless Eli! Besides, my dad said he'd help me get the best one." Hannah said through giggles. "Seriously, I confuse _one_ Camaro with a Mustang and you think I'm just hopeless, huh?"

"I'm just saying, you are kind of car-illiterate." Eli joked. "But after I return, we'll catch up, okay? Maybe somewhere outside of the Square?"

Hannah hummed in thought. "Are you asking me out on a date Elias? I'm sure your new girlfriend would not like that."

Depending on the day, she probably wouldn't, Eli thought to himself. But Hannah neither knew nor needed to know his relationship with Jade right now. Truthfully, Jade scared Eli greatly. He could only imagine what she, and definitely her _godfather_ , would do to Hannah if Hannah jeopardized something big.

"She's not my girlfriend and I'm sure she wouldn't even care." Eli said. "So do you want to go or not?"

"Sure." Hannah answered. "And Eli, please promise me that you won't give Robert and his family a hard time. You may not want to talk about it, but I know that he isn't your dad and he could never replace him. But he is your mom's husband and you should at least be decent to the man."

Eli scoffed. "Right. I should shake hands and be friends with the man that's sleeping with my mom."

"With that logic," replied Hannah. "I shouldn't hug my dad and you shouldn't have done the same to your dad."

"You know what I meant Hannah."

"I know what you said." Hannah countered. "And yeah, I get what you're saying too. But honestly, what's the worst that can happen? You actually like living a rich life in Mancastle?"

Taking in a deep breath, Eli tried to keep himself calm at all costs. He honestly did not want to lose the comfort of his ex during these times, especially when he could get his dad's permission to head to Gotham City and spend time with his cousin.

"I will try. But I won't pretend that I like it. Any of it." Eli told Hannah. "Is that all?"

"Yes, that's all." Hannah said. "Seriously Eli, please don't do anything that George would get you to do, okay?"

"Okay. Bye." Eli replied.

"Bye Eli."

He hung up afterwards, more annoyed now than he was five minutes ago when he was leaving the center. While he knew that Hannah meant well, her being his normal voice of conscious sometimes had its moments when he seriously wanted to tell her to shut up and walk away. She would not let him party like he wanted, talk how he wanted, or do what he wanted if it meant angering some higher authority figure. It made her a great choice in girlfriend when pleasing Leila was an issue but someone really hard to be with when he needed to just let loose.

His mind then drifts to Jade. The Asian beauty had been a constant wedge between him and Hannah, not enough to fully separate the pair, but enough so that they would never be as close as they once were. Oddly enough, Eli did not believe that all of Jade's doings were intentionally. Things such as just being present when Hannah called were unintentional as there was no schedule posted that predicted or dictated when Hannah would call. Those were all by chance. But small smiles in front of Hannah were things Jade purposely did for some form of humor that Eli could do without.

Or could he?

Weeks with Jade had taught Eli that the girl was danger on two legs and yet he was somehow attracted to that. The thought of having to stay on his toes somehow correlated with the overall beauty of the Vietnamese girl, which was an unhealthy desire. Yet, Eli found himself digging into Jade's past more and more, growing somewhat excited when he thought he found a key clue or a major event, while at the same time keeping her at a safe distance. It was as if he was solving the most intriguing puzzle of his life with pieces sharp enough to cut his fingers off if mishandled. He knew he did not have a death wish but Jade was… No, Jade _is_ …

A sigh escaped his lips.

Hannah and Jade were Heaven and Hell in his head, constantly voicing their opinions about every decision he made in the past few weeks. One of them kept him grounded, studying for tests, and tried to keep him in his mother's good graces. The other taught him had to scour throughout the city to find informants in all the wrong places, showed him how to hurt and maim men twice his size with his bare hands, and reminded him of the beauty that the nightlife- hectic or calm- could bring to him.

They weren't the only push and pull in his head. Nick and Ben were there as well. The two were both analytical and somewhat methodical but Nick's philosophy of apprehend the suspect(s) sometimes collided with Ben's belief that killing one sometimes saves millions. The two men also had a different sense of right and wrong. Nick thought that there could be a worse reaction to the original wrong, thus outweighing the initial wrong in the first place. Ben held a strong belief that all wrong was wrong and there was no universal scale that decided which wrong was justified or not. Therefore, Nick believed that circumstantial actions such as killing in self defense was justifiable whereas Ben saw it to be murder no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Rounding a corner, Eli continued his brisk walk towards the bus stop. Jade and Hannah, as well as Ben and Nick, were all trying to get Eli to side with them over their counterpart, something obvious to the teen. However, he would hate himself if he chose to ignore that they each held their strong points. In a way, they were each trying to keep him safe from his need of answers and vengeance.

A job his mother was succeeding and failing at simultaneously.

The boy made it to the stop a full minute before the bus arrived. Taking a spot in a rare empty seat, Eli took in a deep breath as the bus pulled off. He only had a few weeks left to obtain all the knowledge he could and be sent out for a test run to prove that he could be a hero in this city. More importantly, by doing this, he could keep his father's notes and find out just what these Russians were doing when they killed his dad.

Closing his eyes momentarily, Eli added another event on his agenda. Not only would he find this Bookworm, figure out what Tobias Whale and/or Sapphire have planned, and get even with the Mozgov Family, but he would make sure those bastards ignoring and mistreating Britney would pay as well.

And then he would figure out just who in the hell Jade really is.

* * *

It took him a while to get used to the workout uniforms, but Eli was adaptable when needed to be. Or at least, he thought he was. But the all black workout suit was skin tight, the top being long sleeved and the bottoms coming down to his ankles. The shoes were also something he had never experienced before. There were no laces or straps. Just slip them on or slip them off and they miraculously stayed on during the entire trip. Gloves were also worn during sparring, their hands always being taped prior the gloves coming on.

The masks, however, we something that Eli and Jade only wore whenever they went investigating. Ski masks were not a popular thing in New Camford during the summer, let alone in Cheshire Square, worn at night, by two teenagers.

The mask also did something to the two of them that neither could explain. It allowed them to leap from roof to roof without fear, scale down fire escapes by making the minimalist sounds, and sneak around the infested alleyways without being spotted. Eli was unsure if this feeling, this rush, was the same feeling his father felt but it was something that he enjoyed. And the mask that he wore allowed him to enjoy this feeling without the fear of falling or being caught.

Well, being caught by anyone _besides_ Ben.

"Wait," Jade said quietly, holding a hand out to him as they came to a stop at the edge of a small retail store. "Listen."

The duo had traveled out of the Cheshire Square neighborhood, entering what was known as Old Camford; a historical area between Town Square and Cheshire Square. The three neighborhoods plus the Salisbury neighborhood (where Cam State was located) and Rhodes neighborhood made up of what was collectively known as Downtown New Camford and had been the area where Eli was most comfortable at. It was the heart of the city and, in Eli's opinion, the best part of the town with a blend of the corporate towers downtown and the small businesses within Cheshire Square and Old Camford.

The pair was currently in a darken spot of Old Camford, literally yards outside the Cheshire Square district line, where a lot of drug dealings had gone down. This current meeting, however, was said by Jade to be something different. Something that would help both of their cases.

Standing next to a silver Mercedes Benz, a man a few inches taller than Eli, stood with his arms crossed. From Eli's viewpoint he could see that the man was of light complexion, possibly Caucasian. Another man paced quietly in front of the first suspect, this one considerably darker and shorter, but due to the dim lit parking lot, neither Jade nor Eli could rightfully deduce the man's race.

"So let me get this straight," the pacing man said, his voice eerily reminding Eli of the parrot from _Aladdin_. "Some mooch comes into town and challenges us, us! And they think that they can just get away with it?"

"You're worrying about nothin'." the man leaning against the car replied, he having a thick Southern accent. "Pullman says that Whale ain't worried 'bout elections. He's a Metzy after all. All they think 'bout is themselves."

Eli frowned. The term "Metzy" was used to insult anyone from Metropolis or that area in Delaware. It was rather uncommon the farther south one goes, but in New Camford and Ivy Town it was heard quite often, especially when any college or pro team from Metropolis journeyed into the New Ivy Metro. The fact that this apparent cowboy in a suit was using that term Metzy meant that he either lived in the area or has been here long enough to pick up on the jargon.

"Metzy? What the hell is that?" the pacing man asked, now stopping to stare at the suit wearing man.

A deep chuckle radiated out of the first man. "Nothin'. Just common talk up here, that's all." Eli took in a deep breath and released it slowly. Something about the relaxed gentleman rubbed him the wrong way. "Now, 'bout this Whale fella. He's not lookin' for any real trouble. The guy just runs a business from here to Dakota City. He just needed a little… Reassurance."

"Reassurance? Reassurance for what? He knows that Mozgov Family runs most of the operations up here. Does he think the mayor will just let it happen?" The screeching man retorts angrily. "And what the hell was Pullman thinking by letting those bozos show up in the rally in Greenwich? Do you know what the polls will look like if someone spotted that large idiot? That McMahon lady wins, that's what!"

"Hey, calm down. We got what we want. Pullan'll be in the White House sooner than later. And apparently, we're getting that Stagg girl onboard."

Jade cut Eli a glance, reading his eyes- the only thing visible with the mask on. His eyes were focused on the situation ahead, a look she had seen quite a few times over the past few weeks. She knew that Eli's mind was already working on connecting the dots, dots that even she did not see, and that he was already preparing something. He was preparing to do something big, even if he did not know it now. She did. And Jade wanted to be there when he finally made his move.

"Where the hell is this guy at?" There was an uneasy silence that followed the question, the man leaning against the car checking a wrist watch.

"Pullman says he'd be here fore eight. Said the guy was some specialist from Gotham City." the second man said before lowering his watch. "Don't understand why we need 'em, honestly."

"Because back when he was just the mayor of this city," the Gilbert Gottfried sound alike replied. "Mr. Pullman had some favors done for him to keep some of those costumed freaks at bay, and he's not just one of those schmucks with muscles either. Smart guy."

Eli listened to the two men continue their conversation. His heart rate increased significantly as time went on as the two men continued to describe the third party who had yet to show. However, the more the pair talked, the more Eli got the idea that it was Bookworm that they were talking about and the hidden teen wanted nothing more than to finally meet the man to scratch off something on his father's to-do list.

And then he realized that Jade was gone.

Panic quickly washed over him and then was replaced with a quiet calamity. He looked around the area until he saw a familiar shadow creeping up next to the car, out of the two men's sights. Eli watched as Jade carefully retrieved something that was hooked on the back of her pants. Knowing better than to allow her to go into a fight without proper, Eli prepared his next move.

He was currently weaponless, though not necessarily defenseless. As Nick had so strongly proved, the element of surprise was the greatest weapon that anyone could possess. When used correctly, it allowed a knife-user to win a gun fight or, as in this case, a boy with no weapons to get the jump on two men who were probably carrying some form of firearm.

Eli released the breath he was holding as he came to one logical conclusion to this entire ordeal: Ben was going to kill him. There was no way, live or die, that the two escaped without gaining some attention and Eli could already hear Ben lecturing them on the importance of codes and rules and why they should never break his or else. But if Jade were to get severely wounded, kidnapped, or- heaven forbid- killed during this little trip of theirs, then a lecture would be the last thing Eli worried about.

The boy watched intently as he made out Jade reaching behind her, partially reaching into her pants before pulling a small item out. He had no idea what or what she planned on doing with said item, but she was apparently going to do _something_.

…And he was too stunned, too _afraid_ , to do anything but watch. He was stationed on the roof, too stunned by Jade's brashness and too anxious to do something about it, with his fingers curling into fists. The two men were oblivious to the stealthy teenagers, one now preparing to strike.

In a brief, tense moment, Jade looked up at Eli's position. In three short weeks, Eli knew what that look was; it was her waiting on his signal. Normally this look came when Jade was waiting for Eli to regain enough energy to continue on with whatever training they were doing. It only took him a few seconds to realize what she was waiting for his signal for.

 _ **Thump-thump!**_

He had never heard his heartbeat so loud but ignored it as he watched the pacing man turn his back to the man leaning against the car, and coincidentally Jade. Eli then looked and Jade, who had yet to take her sight off of Eli, and nodded.

In that instance, Jade sprung up behind the man, left hand moving to cover his mouth before her right hand, the hand with the unknown object, moved across the guy's neck as if she was stroking a violin with a small bow. A muffled grunt followed before the man's body slumped forward.

"Wha…?" The pacing man stopped in his march as he turned to see what had happened. He stared wide-eyed at the girl while taking a small step backwards. "Wh-what do you want? Who are you?!"

"Knowing my name won't save you," Eli heard Jade hiss. "I need you to give me a name and a number. Robert Pullman has a son. Tell me who and how to reach him."

Eli frowned. What did Jade want with Pullman's son? Could he be Jade's long-lost father? Or could he know something about Eli's dad? He was too anxious to get a good grasp of this entire thing. His last logical thought was that Jade had just murdered someone right in front of him… And he helped her do it.

"H-Here," stammered the surviving man, holding his phone out towards Jade. "Here's his number."

Eli watched as Jade snatched the cell phone out of the man's hand. She stared at the device for a moment before she looked back up at the remaining man.

"What do you know about Mozgov Family?" Jade asked, Eli's heart stopping for a moment.

"They have a club in Venice Terrace! But they're having problems with the Whale guy from Metropolis! That's all I know, I swear!"

Eli absorbed the information. The Russian's and Tobias Whale were having problems. It was not quite farfetched, Eli assumed, as he did remember reading about Tobias attempting to buy out the families in the Mid-Atlantic and New England states. The Mozgov's probably did not want to sell out to Tobias and were not too keen about another guy stepping on their turf.

But, that information was clearly outshone by the fact that Eli was now an accessory to murder. In all his life, he had avoided serious crimes. With his father fighting for the country and his mother using the law on a daily basis, Eli had been quite efficient in limiting just what kind of trouble he found worth getting in to. Murder was clearly something he was not okay with doing.

Before he knew it, Eli found himself backing away and leaving the area. His heart rate had climbed to a previously unreached high and he was beginning to grow lightheaded. Did his dad kill random gangsters to keep the city safe? Eli was certain- though he never outright asked- that Malcolm had killed while stationed in Qurac, but that was different. That was there and this was here… No, that didn't make much sense. And yet, at the same time, it explained everything. Murder in war was somehow justified by the simple fact that it was war. Killing some criminal on the streets who probably deserved it was somehow wrong.

Then again, both Nick and Ben had warned Eli that eventually, the use of equal force would mean that Eli would have to have the same murderous intent as the guy Eli is pitted against. In other words, if Eli wanted to protect the city, he would have to use the necessary force, without being excessive, to do so.

This was different though. Jade had just _killed_ someone right in front of him for information that was not necessarily needed! Eli knew that he could have gotten that information some other way. But now he had it at the ultimate price that someone else paid.

Five minutes in, Eli realized that he had easily scaled down the fire escape of the original building he was on and had escaped into the streets without being spotted by anyone without trying. He was somehow sticking to the shadows of the roads, doing everything to be unseen, all while not even paying attention.

Pausing to catch his breath in a small secluded alleyway, the teen snorted.

"Some training," he mused.

"You still have some ways to go."

"Shit!" Eli cursed as he jumped, turning to see Jade with her mask removed, a pleased smile on her face. "What the fuck Jade? How'd you even get here so fast?"

"I followed you Rookie. Did you really think that I couldn't keep up with you?" Jade replied. "You took off before I could give you more information on that Mozgov thing. They are who you said, right?"

Eli now regretted saying anything about his inner problems now. It made him at Jade's mercy at some points as she knew that he wanted to uncover the truth about his father's death more than anything.

"Or are you shaken up because of that guy?" Eli didn't answer. "Oh. I figured you'd be scared by that."

"I'm not scared of it. I'm-"

"Save the bullshit for your girlfriend. You were scared when I killed that guy and you know it." Jade said before shrugging. "Oh well. I got what we came for. You should probably get back before your mom calls and reminds you of your curfew."

Eli waved Jade off. "Whatever Jade. I'm going to go back and wait until my mom does come so I can get this stupid trip off." He paused as he saw her cross her arms. "What?"

"Aren't you gonna thank me for getting information on the Mozgov Family?" Jade asked, the smallest hint of her actual jovial intent heard in her voice.

Once more, Eli regretted telling Jade anything about his true wants and wishes. Not only did she drag him through the events like tonight and the previous nights (this being the first murder), but she always made sure that Eli at least thanked her for their troubles. Of course, Eli normally just watched as she did whatever she did to get the information, but he still was putting a lot on the line by disobeying Ben's orders and pushing his luck with his mother's patience.

However, Eli knew that Jade was trying to help in her own little way. He should show gratitude every time that she stuck her neck out to help him; even if she was getting information for her self on the side…

"Thanks," Eli told the girl. "Can we go now? I need to change."

"Fine, but," Eli grimaced beneath his mask at the girl's response. "We can't be spotted. Cops are probably looking for someone in a mask." Eli nodded at her point. "Think you can keep up Rookie?"

Despite knowing that Jade was faster, Eli grinned.

"Try me."

* * *

Leila had not arrived by the time Eli had returned to his apartment. In fact, he was unsure where his mother was. Needless to say, he didn't necessarily worry about Leila's whereabouts nor did he stay on the phone with Sam long enough to hear about where Robert was.

"So you're going to Metropolis, huh? What a blast that'll be."

While Eli was currently inside his bedroom changing back into the khaki pants and shirt (his mother's standard of what was presentable for work) he wore earlier, Jade had made herself comfortable in his kitchen. There was not much there but some snacks and soft drinks that Eli continued to stock his refrigerator and cabinets with, things he could afford that is. Jade normally replaced whatever she took but it did not help when she was throwing sarcastic comments around like she was now.

"I bet you can even see Superman!" the girl continued. "If you do, get a picture with him, okay? Oh! And punch him to see if he is made of steel!"

Fixing his collar, Eli opened his bedroom door and walked out of his room. He soon came to the kitchen to find Jade grabbing a soda from the refrigerator. She had discarded her mask and top, now in a green (which he found was her favorite color) sports bra and the black bottoms of her training suit. Further inspection, he could see the lacey black top to her underwear poking up from beneath her pants.

Quickly tearing his eyes away from the girl's lower half, Eli was met with green amused eyes.

"So? What do you think?" Jade asked.

Eli played dumb, praying to God she had not caught him leering at her.

"Think about?" he returned.

"Superman's picture. Do you think you can get one?" she restated her question.

"I don't know, maybe," Eli said as he stepped for the living room. "Not like I really want to be there. It's part of this damn deal."

Jade gave a hum as she opened the bottled Dr. Pepper that she had just received, following Eli to the couch. The girl sat on the couch with a content sigh, her green eyes studying her male companion for a moment. Most guys would have asked, or demanded, her to leave. Those were those goody-good boys that acted tough in the street and then screamed like a little bitch at the first sight of blood. Jade was done with them. And then there were those that would have pretended that seeing death was nothing, going on and on about how they killed this guy or that guy. They were always lying and Jade hated them as well.

But, once more, Eli proved to take Jade to a newer area where the guys acknowledged the death, were not afraid to voice how they felt about it, and then conceded with whatever reason she gave for killing the poor bastard. It was only ten minutes since the act and yet Eli had regained the color to his skin as well as his natural aloofness about her close proximity.

"You're not plotting to kill me too, are you?" Eli asked. He felt a bit uneasy under Jade's gaze tonight for the right reasons.

"Just thinking, that's all," Jade responded. "So, have you figured it out yet?" Eli once more gave her a confused stare. "My dad. Have you figured out who he is? And don't tell me that you haven't thought about it, because we both know you have. You think too much."

"I have," Eli admitted. "And no, I don't know. Honestly, I haven't put much thought into it. I need to fix my problems first before I move on to yours."

"Aren't you a gentleman?" replied the sardonic girl. "And you never mentioned why this was such a big deal, finishing what your dad started."

"You wouldn't understand."

It was left at that. Eli was still weary about revealing too much around Jade and he felt that she understood. So while she sipped her drink quietly, he put his shoes on and focused on ways to endure the next two days of hell in Metropolis.

Two minutes of silence followed afterwards before Jade spoke up again.

"So what about your mom's family? Do you not see them at all or…?" Jade voiced.

"Don't know about them." Eli plainly said. "I never asked because I assumed my mom never cared."

Jade gave a snort. "And you want me to believe that you, Mr. Noisy Detective, didn't do some research on your mom's family?" Eli shook his head for no. "Well shit. That's actually coldblooded."

"You keep up with your family?" questioned Eli.

"I'm trying." Her comment was said in a low, almost sadistic, manner. It easily caught Eli's attention and he found himself just staring at the girl to his left. "What?"

"You sounded like you wanted to kill someone." Eli pointed out.

"You hate your mom for leaving you. I feel the same for my bastard dad." Jade responded. "But don't worry. I'm not trying to kill the only parent I have left."

Eli did not believe her, something evidence on his face. The more he stayed around Jade, the more he realized that Ben was saving Jade's mystery dad from the girl's anguish. It was clear to Eli that Jade was angrier at her deadbeat dad than Eli was his mom. But what Eli did not know was just what Jade had planned for the man. Though, he and Ben knew that it would be nothing good.

"Will you kill them?" Eli was a little deterred by Jade's question, the girl continuing as if she said nothing completely random. "You know, once you find the Mozgov Family and all of that. _If_ you ever do, I should say. Will you kill them?"

It had been a question Nick had constantly threw at Eli during their time together. He wanted to know Eli's resolve before allowing the kid to run around in the streets in a mask. Eli had not actually answered the question as he knew Nick probably would not be okay with the answer.

"What do you think?"

Eli's answer somewhat startled Jade. The boy had simply turned away and spoke with an edgy tone that was unlike anything that had come out of his mouth before. Jade sat and sipped her drink quietly afterwards while Eli chose to focus on his shoes. Neither said anything for all of three minutes before Jade had grown tired of the silence.

"Can you speak Arabic?" Jade questioned.

"No," Eli answered. "Can you speak Vietnamese?"

"Would you understand me if I did?" Eli studied the grinning face of the girl next to him. He was seconds from responded until someone knocked on his door. "Oh great…"

"Elias, we need to talk." Eli sighed at his mother's voice. Just his luck, the one time she _didn't_ call before showing up was the _only_ time Jade was walking around shirtless. "Elias."

"I'm coming." Eli called back as he stood up to open the door.

He was not going to ask for Jade to leave or to put a shirt on. He needed Leila to think that something was going on, something big enough to kill whatever conversation she originally came to have. Eli knew that the talk afterwards would be just as enduringly annoying but it was a speech he had heard before, and thus, prepared for.

Given Jade one final glance over his shoulder, Eli reached out and unlocked the front door. As always his mom looked ready to kill if needed. It made him second-guess his plan.

"Elias I…" Leila's words died once she spotted Jade casually seated on the couch. The girl was in her green sports bra and black bottoms. "Who is this?"

"Mama, that's Jade. She's the goddaughter of Mr. Turner, the guy who has been training me." Eli introduced. "We were just talking."

Eli waited for his mother's nose to flare slightly at the comment, "we were just talking." It was sad, but a teenager's life could be very cliché and, at points, said cliché could come in handy. A parent as firm as Leila was never bought the "we were just talking" bit from her son, _especially_ when the other party was technically half-naked.

A deep rise of her chest told Eli that Leila was slowly calming herself down and that this would be something that she was going to bring up later. But for now, she was going to allow it to slide.

"Nice to meet you, Jade," Leila finally spoke, gaining a pair of raised brows from her son. "Elias, come on. I promised Robert that I wouldn't be long."

Eli moved quietly, turning to head to his room to get his two bags that he had packed earlier that day. He eyed Jade as he walked by, the green-eyed girl giving him look that clearly amused him. He wondered if she had picked up that he had, in theory, done to his mom what Jade had done to Hannah earlier. By given Leila the idea that something was going on between the two, it created an awkward silence that no one wanted to be a part of, and thus the targeted person, in this case Leila, wanted to leave. Jade had done this to Hannah twice which ended up in three texts and a phone call from the Hispanic girl. Now Eli was doing it to his mom.

"So what is this crazy karate that I heard about?" Eli heard Leila direct the question to Jade. He sighed as he threw the straps his backpack over his shoulders before grabbing the duffle bag that he had his clothes in.

"It's in some weird language. Ben just calls it 'Dragon Fist' so that's what I call it." Jade lied, drawing a smile on Eli's face as he exited his bedroom. "I've been practicing it for years. Eli's not bad."

"That's nice…" Leila said as Eli reentered the room. "Shouldn't she be leaving now?"

"Mr. Turner left earlier and said he wouldn't be back for a while. I told her she could hang out here until either he returned or I left first." Eli answered his mother, walking by Jade. "Besides, I trust her a lot more in here than George during Summer Break."

"Don't worry. I'm leaving." Jade stated as she rose to her feet, taking her drink with her. "Thanks for letting me steal another drink Eli. I owe you one." Eli gave Jade a small nod as the girl practically saunters to the door where Leila stood. "It was nice to meet you Mrs. Jackson."

"Nolan. Leila Nolan." Leila corrected.

"Nolan. Sorry, I didn't know." Jade lied before slipping by the woman and exiting the apartment.

Eli was once again silently studying his mother as she quietly tapped the doorknob with a finger. She seemed to be contemplating on what to say or do next. Either that, or she was really annoyed by Jade's presence or the girl's state of dress.

"Let's go Elias." Leila finally said. "We have to stop to get something to eat."

"Sure," Eli replied. "Are you okay Mama?"

"I'm just tired Elias. Let's just get to Metropolis." Leila told him. "Just… Tell me now that you are not having sex with her."

"I have not had sex with her Mama." Eli said.

Leila gave him a look that just screamed "Not yet" but she said nothing as the pair exited. Eli locked his doors and followed his mother down the stairs while his mind went elsewhere.

Tobias Whale. The Mozgov Family. The Pullmans. These were the thoughts that Eli had busied himself with that somehow pushed the thoughts of Jade killing a random man to the back of his mind. It was like a mantra said over and over. Whale. Mozgov. Pullman. Repeat. All of this just to avoid the inevitable that he was an accessory to murder.

Yet, once he reached his mother's silver Mercedes-Benz E-Class convertible, he was given another topic to think about.

"Does she usually walk around with her underwear showing?" Leila waited until after Eli had put his bags in her trunk and had gotten into the passenger seat before asking.

"Her shirt got sweaty from the workouts and for whatever reason she didn't want to put on another." Eli said as Leila started her car up.

"I was talking about her thong." Leila stated, cutting a glance at her son.

Eli sat back in his seat. "I hardly noticed it."

Unfortunately, now all he could think about was the vision of Jade at his refrigerator.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Okay, here is the latest update to the Markings of a Hero. While I really want to just drop Eli in costume and have him running off doing his own thing, I feel as if I do it too soon, it'll open a lot of plot holes. And no one likes those. Originally I was going to do a review corner for the previous chapters, only to remember I did the larger one on Arkham Rising that included all three stories, so I'll just throw in a random hint down here just to make up for it. The main villain of this story is an OC who will, not only push Eli to the extreme, but will also reveal the "curse" behind the would-be New Camford heroes. Oh, and Black Canary will be here soon. Anyway, next chapter will have a time skip during it, showing Eli's time in Metropolis as well as well as the first look at his hero costume and some of his gadgets. Until then, hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any questions, comments, or just general thoughts that you would like to share, leave a review or PM and I'll respond during a review corner coming soon. Bye.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Notes:** There is a time skip within this chapter as I combined what would have been this chapter and the next into a shorter one that just highlighted some of Eli's training. Just a fair warning.

 **Chapter Warnings:** This chapter is rating T (and a low one at that) for teen for mild language.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Eight: A New Day

Yawning, Eli pinched the bridge of his nose at the words in front of him. Malcolm actually had more on Tobias Whale than Eli originally thought. However, most of it was written in the near illegible penmanship that was known as Miles's handwriting. Staying up the previous night only to wake up earlier today was not doing Eli's deciphering abilities any justice.

However, Malcolm's notes on the Mozgov Family abruptly stops, for reasons Eli was trying not to think of. There were pages about the club in Venice Terrace, but ultimately Malcolm had not learned who was leading the family, where their shipments came from, and who on the NCPD (if any) were on the Russian's payroll.

The teen stretched in bed with a quiet grunt. Today was the Fourth of July and he was currently still in Metropolis in a hotel room next door to his mother's. Sam was sleeping in the bed next to his, snoring quite loudly after all but passing out last the previous night.

Eli snorted at the memory. Sam was so excited about sharing a room with Eli. He had plugged in his XBox and challenged Eli to every two-player game that he had. Originally, Eli was not going to entertain the younger boy at all, but after minutes of persistent begging, Eli had given in and played a few games with his younger brother.

Brown eyes traveled to the body contorted on top of the sheets on the next bed. Eli shook his head as he noted his brother's wild sleeping ways. Maybe all kids slept that?

A soft knock was heard.

"Elias. Sam. Are you two awake?"

Eli glanced to see that his brother did not move, not hearing their mom at all. The older brother sighed heavily before setting Malcolm's journal aside and getting out of his bed. While he was in nothing but shorts, Eli went to answer the door as quickly and quietly as possible in hopes that he could keep Sam asleep for another hour or so to work.

"Yeah?" Eli answered quietly, opening the door just enough to poke his head into his mother's view.

"We're going to your grandparents- Robert's parent's house- in two hours. Make sure you're up and ready." Eli heard the slip in Leila's words and glared at his mother. The woman sighed at his physical reaction. "I'm sorry Elias. And for the sake of this trip, please do not make it obvious that these are not your grandparents."

"You told me that I had to be here. You never said that I had to pretend to enjoy it." Eli pointed out as he opened the door wider.

"I…" Leila's words died as her eyes landed on his body; more specifically, a bruise on his lower right side. "What is that?"

Eli followed her eyes to the bruise that he had received days ago during his training with Ben. By now, it did not hurt and he hardly paid it any attention. But as Leila studied the bruise in front of him, Eli was reminded of the bruise and how he had gotten it.

He was just happy that she was unable to see his back.

"It's a bruise." Eli answered flatly. His goal was simple, be an asshole and maybe, just _maybe_ , she would back off to avoid conflict in a public place. Leila was always very conscious about how she- and by extension her family- portrayed themselves in public.

She would not make a scene standing in the hallway of a hotel.

"I know…!" Leila began before stopping herself and taking in a deep, long breath. "Elias, if this man is hurting you-"

"He's training me. I'm fine. It doesn't even hurt." Eli interrupted.

"Your father once told me the same thing." Leila whispered harshly. "And now he is gone. I do not care if you are learning to protect yourself but you will _not_ kill yourself in the process like your father did. Do I make myself clear, Elias?"

"Yeah. Can I get ready now?" His response came out just as cold as hers, the jab about Malcolm's death not doing any favors of reestablishing a mother-son bond.

"We will talk about this later Elias." Leila said. "Get your brother up. We need to be at Robert's parents' place before too long." Eli was seconds from slamming the door before Leila's words halted his actions. "And remember our deal. If you ruin this, the apartment is gone, as well as your little training sessions with that girl's father."

"Her name is Jade and it's her godfather." Eli challenged. "Is that all Mrs. Nolan?"

There was another standoff, one that Eli was not backing down from. Leila had stepped on one too many toes today with a shot at his dad and threatening to renege on their original deal. If they were at home he might have let the comment about his dad slide, however, they were not in New Camford or Gotham City. They were in Metropolis visiting Robert's parents, _not_ Eli's grandparents. He did not have the patience to deal with this now.

"Get your brother and yourself ready Elias." Leila ordered before walking away from the door.

Eli stopped himself from slamming the door shut. Yet, after he closed the door, he muttered a curse beneath his breath before turning his eyes to his sleeping brother. With the anger inside of him, there was a voice in the front of his mind that told him to just flip the kid out of the bed and onto the floor…

But that was unfair to Sam who was not the object of his anger. Or rather, it was unfair for Eli to reveal why Sam _was_ the object of his anger. To a degree, every child wishes that their parents stay together. For Eli, seeing Sam walk about as if life was perfect was just a reminder that Eli's parents were not those perfect parents on TV. They ended and…

…And a part of it was solely due to whatever crazy demons his father had. Demons that, Eli prayed, did not remain roaming around the apartment in the form of some supernatural manifestation.

With a quiet sigh of frustration, Eli walked towards Sam's bed and hovered over the boy.

"Sam, get up." Eli said in a firm voice. Sam groaned and turned, forcing Eli to shake his brother's shoulder. "Now Sam."

"Why?" Sam whined.

"Because we have to go to your grandparents' house soon and Mama said so." Eli stated. "Hurry up and take a shower so your mom can stop bit- bugging me."

Eli was thankful he had caught his own slip-up lest Sam learns another word that gets them both in serious trouble.

Sam sat up in the bed, his curly hair a brown mess atop of the boy's head. Eli had half the mind to tell Sam to wash and comb his hair but thought against it.

It was bad enough that he had adopted Leila's work ethics in privacy. The last thing he needed was to _sound_ like around Sam.

"Come on," Eli said. "Get up and get ready. Did you pack your toothbrush?" Sam groggily nods, scooting towards the edge of the bed. "Then shower, brush your teeth, get dress, and then go find your parents while I get ready."

"Oh… Can we play-"

"No. We have to get ready. Now go." Eli cut the younger child off.

"Okay…" Defeated, Sam went to bathroom to do what he was ordered to do.

Eli shook his head and trudged back to his bed. He waited until he heard the showers waters running before he resumed his decoding of his father's notes. His mind was trying to imagine the exact locations Miles was talking about but could not see through the faded horrible written cursive letters on the papers.

"Damn it Dad," Eli mumbled quietly. "Mama was right. You did write like a blind doctor."

Eli continued to graze through the notebook, trying to find anything he could about the Russian mob family of New Camford, but got others instead. He had noticed that Malcolm had an increasingly growing interest in Tobias Whale, going on and on about the rise of Black Lightning- apparently a hero from Metropolis- and how Black Lightning came close to shutting down Whale's entire operation. There were other notes about some mysterious gamer turned criminal who Malcolm had no real idea who or what the guy or girl was about. Bookworm was mentioned here and there as well.

However, the other hideouts for the Mozgov Family were unknown to Malcolm and his son. And for Eli, that was more nerve-racking than his mom dragging him to Metropolis for some "family cookout" that did not even include his family.

Closing his eyes, Eli imagined he was at Mallory's apartment right now. His aunt, Carla, would be making most of the food while her new boyfriend, Bryson, would grill what Carla could not due to Malcolm not being able to. Mallory would be busy watching her son, James, and telling Eli about why they didn't need their other family members there making things hotter. They would probably reminisce on the times that Malcolm and Carla would argue over who fried the best fish or how Eli's dad would always challenge Eli and Mallory to a game of poker.

A smile came onto Eli's face as he added to the scene. In this scenario, Hannah would politely remind Malcolm that gambling was wrong before sitting down to play herself, her dad showing her how to play. George would throw in the unnecessary suggestion of playing strip-poker before Mallory slaps him on the back of his head. Jade would claim that she couldn't play, leaning over Eli's shoulder to see his hand, before outright beating them all due to some card-counting mumbo-jumbo she actually picked up from Ben years ago. Nick would tell Sam and Britney some old war story, Leila catching the Australian-native every time he thought about using any form of profane language.

If only that's how today went…

If only if that day were possible…

* * *

Robert's parents were annoying. Those were not Eli's words, but Leila's. The woman had whispered that statement to her oldest son before the family made it to the Nolan residence. It would be the biggest understatement of the day.

"You've gotten big Eli!" Mrs. Brenda Nolan exclaimed as she laid her blue beady eyes on Eli, the boy becoming more uncomfortable by the seconds. "Come here and give Nana a hug!"

Eli wanted to remind the woman that she was not his grandma and _definitely_ not his "nana" but he was obligated by a verbal contract to do so. So begrudgingly, he moved to the short stout woman and hugged her, doing his best not to let her white curly hair itch at his face but so much.

"You look just like your mother!" the woman added before looking at her much taller husband, Mr. Frank Nolan. "Frank, look at him! He's a spitting image of Lily!"

Eli had never really gotten a good look of Robert's parents until now. He could clearly see the resemblance between Robert and Mr. Nolan. They were both thin- though Eli theorized that Frank's shape came with the old age- and they both had gone bald throughout the years. Robert's blue eyes clearly came from his mother but that was about all the man got from his maternal side.

"Yeah, he looks like her alright." Mr. Nolan added with a grin. "How's it going Sport?"

Eli's lip twitched at the nickname though he recovered before any harm could be done. Releasing Mrs. Nolan, he addressed the man with a handshake.

"I'm fine." Eli said.

"Hey, there's no need to lie to me." Mr. Nolan said, causing Eli to panic. If this man could see through Eli's façade, then Eli could kiss all that he has been working for goodbye. "I heard about your dad. I know how I felt when I lost my father, and from what I heard, you lost a good one."

Eli swallowed. "Yeah… Uh, thanks."

"Eli," Mrs. Nolan said. "If you need anything, and I mean anything at all, all you have to do is call us, okay? I'm sure having hardworking parents like Lily and Bobby makes you a little… Detached, am I right?"

Eli took in a deep breath, an action Leila was more than familiar with.

"Elias," Leila cut off his response before it could even begin. "We still need to talk about your schooling and your current work place."

Robert frowned. "What's wrong with his job?"

"It has to do with our deal about the apartment," Leila answered, ushering Eli away. "This will only take a moment, I promise."

The breath Eli had been holding had slowly been released through his nostrils. In another time, in another world, he might have punched the woman for even _assuming_ that Robert Nolan could be _half_ the man Eli's biological father was, let alone referring to Robert as one of Eli's "hardworking parents". It was bad enough that Eli was here but now…

Stepping out in the front of the nice, green-grassed two-storied house, Eli was led to the driveway where Leila stopped.

"Are you calm?" Her words almost sounded amused, as if his anger towards Robert's mother was entertaining in the slightest bit.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Eli said as Leila released his arm. "Can't I just return to the hotel? I was here, I was nice, and now, I just want to rest."

Leila gave a small wave of her hand. "You won't rest. You know that." The woman then looked upwards at the blue sky. "It bothers me too, Elias. Whenever someone speaks about Malcolm as if Robert was always the better choice, it bothers me greatly."

Eli blinked. "What?"

"If Robert was always better than your father, don't you think I would've married Robert before you were born?" Leila retorted, still looking skywards. "Like I said, your father progressively got worse. That is when I left, when he got worse. And Robert… Robert was there."

Eli stood quietly as he took in that information. Once again, he got the strangest feeling that his mother loved his father more than she put on. Her insistence of bringing Malcolm up in a positive light was proof of this.

Leila took in a deep breath. "We can stand here and talk about where we would both like to be, but the truth is, we are both here." The woman gave her son a smile. "So long as I'm stuck here at my in-laws' being called 'Lily', you will be stuck with me."

"Fine Mama, I'll be here. Unfortunately." Eli replied.

Leila gave Eli a pat on his shoulder. "That is all I ask for. Now, let's go back in there and try to be friendly."

Eli watched his mom walk back to the front door, entering the home without glancing back at Eli at all. It was almost as if they were not at each others' throats earlier today. The teen figured that Leila was just trying to keep Eli calm at all costs and, by doing so, making this easier for everyone present. So maybe he should try as well? It was something that Malcolm would have wanted from Eli, to try and make the best of this moment.

Turning back for the house, Eli made a new resolve. He would do this, not for his mother's sake, but his father's. He would show that he could half-ass a smile and amusement just as good as any rich bastard from Metropolis.

Or so he thought…

* * *

Metropolis was different from New Camford. In New Camford, residents of the city were more than weary about those tourists just visiting. In New Camford, Cheshire Square especially, all problems between neighbors were put on hold whenever a newcomer showed his or her face in the neighborhood. It was, in Eli's opinion, a great contribution to his city as it showed how well-stitched the colorful quilt known as New Camford really was.

But in Metropolis, Eli found that strangers threw themselves at him. Sure, they were only strangers to him, but Robert's family was a little too hands on for Eli's liking. Leila had giving him a firm glower every now and again to remind him of the deal that he was stuck in yet said nothing aloud.

Oh, and Sam. How could he forget the little furball that was running about the place _bragging_ about how great his big brother was? Eli had half the mind to hurl the boy all the way to Star City if the strength was somehow given to him. But, again, Leila had seen Eli's thoughts on that matter as well and, again, had given him a daring glance.

Thankfully it was the end of the day and Eli could enjoy some alone time in the large backyard of the Nolan family. The space reminded him of his mother's home in Manchester Hills, just not as spacious. The teen was currently away from all of Sam's aunts, uncles, and cousins, and was able to talk to the only person who would answer his call at the moment; Mallory.

"Seriously Jacks," his cousin spoke. "Only you could hate moving into a bigger house, in a richer neighborhood, and meeting some new mysterious girl who's clearly in to you."

Eli released a scoff. "I don't know what Jade is in to. Wouldn't surprise me if she went after Hannah instead."

"Hey, hey, who is the expert in being a woman here? That's right little cousin, it's me. You let me handle the intuition and you just mope. You're good at that now." Mallory told him in a joking manner. Eli laughed quietly while watching some fireworks light up the sky. "Really wish you were here though. Not saying that you're my only cousin, just the only one that matters."

"Ditto Mal," Eli replied as he watched the bright displays explode in brilliant patterns and lightings. "Thankfully most of them went to some park to watch the fireworks up close and person. Apparently that's what people in Metropolis do. Go to some park to watch fireworks."

Mallory giggled. "And what do you people in New Camford do? Bombard your beach until you pass out drunk?"

"That happened one time and-"

"And nothing Jacks. It still happened." Mallory interrupted. "You're only lucky you had an awesome girlfriend at the time that covered for you or else Miles would have taken away everything before sending you to your death by the hands of Aunt Leila."

Eli thought about the event two years ago. He, at the behest of George, went to a party thrown at Venice Terrace where the two indulged in what the college students were serving for drinks. Neither Eli nor George could actually keep up with the festivities and had nearly passed out on the beach if it had not have been for Hannah reaching them in time and getting them both to George's place without much suspicion.

While Eli had dodged his parents, he was given an earful by Hannah.

…One of many during their relationship.

"Jacks," Mallory said, ending his thoughts. "If it means anything, I'm sure Miles is probably proud that you actually went to your stepdad's parents' place. The fact that Aunt Leila got you to Metropolis without having to tranquilize you is amazing."

Eli smirked. "She probably thought about it."

"Are you talking to your cousin?" The voice of Leila ended Eli's smile while his mother stepped next to him. "If it is, tell Mallory that I said hello."

"Mal, my mom said hi." Eli droned out, trying to sound more enthusiastic than he really was.

"Hey, I'll have you know that she is my favorite aunt." Mallory said. "So you'd better be nice to her Jacks or else."

Eli shook his head, chuckling at his cousin's antics. "She's your _only_ aunt!"

"My dad has sisters." Mallory retorted. "So Aunt Leila being my favorite aunt is a legit thing."

Eli glanced at Leila. "Mal says hello and that you're her favorite aunt." Leila's brows rose. "I'm just as shocked."

"And you're still talking bad about her," Mallory's voice rang into Eli's ear. "Listen, you and Aunt Leila need to patch things up so I'll be the older and mature one between us and hang-up." Eli opened his mouth to interject but, as if she could see him prepare to do so, Mallory cut him off. "It's for the best Eli. What would Miles want?"

Mallory had him there and Eli was unable to stop his cousin from hanging up. His dad had a thing about making sure Eli had some sort of relationship with Leila, even if it did sour throughout the years. Eli figure that it had something to do with the earlier years, those times where Eli was allowed to be under his mother's arms whenever she was off of work and she would read him things or watch whatever Disney movie that was on. Back when Eli was told from his dad that protecting his mother was top priority, no matter how scared Eli was, which was now a null and void statement given just how tough Leila really was and always has been.

Eli took in a deep breath and pocketed his cell phone, unable to really voice his frustrations at the moment. At this point of anger, his vocabulary became something akin to a one-way ticket to hell with his mom standing next to him.

It was then that Leila pulled her son into an awkward one-arm hug. Eli stood frigid in her rather warm embrace, unable to look her in the eye and too afraid of the consequence to actually break away. So he stood there in a neutral zone. He didn't pull away. He didn't reciprocate with a hug of his own. He just stood there and watched the remaining fireworks light up Metropolis.

The teen realized that he would somehow end another day in some weird position with Leila. Unlike the times in the past, he could not just slip into the house and go to his room. In fact, going back into the Nolan household was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment, even with the kids at Centennial Park watching the fireworks.

One thought stayed in his mind though. Somewhere, in the great beyond, Malcolm was smiling at this moment. Even if it was a very awkward one at that.

* * *

"…and that was just the half of it," Eli continued. It had been a full forty-eight hours since the Fourth of July and Eli had just spent fifteen minutes explaining to Nick about why he never wanted to go back. "If I had to listen to one more damn story about Superman or some World Series game in the eighties…"

The boy was currently flinging darts at the board that Nick had set up at the hideout, his aim quite accurate despite his focus on his recounting. Nick busied himself by opening packages at the table, somewhat listening to the teen vent.

"Hey kid, when you're done bitching." Eli rolled his eyes at the statement, hitting his target on the board. "I have to show you something."

Eli slung the last two darts at the board simultaneously, hitting on either side of the bull's eye. The boy smirked at his shot before walking to the table where Nick was still unpacking several items that caught Eli's attention.

"What're those?" Eli asked.

Nick held up what appeared to be a gauntlet. "This is the future kid. A step up in the old hero's business." Eli frowned as Nick put the left gauntlet on and aimed it at the board. "Pay close attention. If you aim this the wrong way, you'll poke your eye out."

Eli was going to reply until a grappling hook fired out of the gauntlet and hit the board, a line connecting Nick's gauntlet to the board. Eli blinked in surprise before Nick reeled the board off of the wall and into his hand.

"Looks like I still have some reflexes." Nick said with a smile. "So what do you think?"

"…" Eli studied the equipment, his brows creased in concentration. His face soon scrunches up in disapproval, brown eyes locking onto Nick's. "Why are they yellow?"

"We'll worry about colors later kid. For now, you need to get use to the equipment." Nick informed the teen as he removed the gauntlet. "Lord knows it took months for your old man to use a standard grappling hook. Bloody bloke damn near took out my good leg trying to use it!"

Eli massaged one hand and then the other.

"Alright," Eli said. "What do you have?"

"Quite a bit," Nick told him. "Flash grenades and smoke bombs. A few little buggers that will send a shock to anyone you use it on. A rocket launcher-"

"A _rocket launcher_?" Eli interrupted. "Why in the hell did Dad need a _rocket launcher_?"

Nick shrugged. "You'd be surprised about the things that live in the sewers kid. Alligators 'bout the size of Andre the Giant!"

"Who?"

"…" Nick sighed heavily, fixing his glasses. "Never mind kid. Just put these on. I need to see how you move in them." Nick then looked at the case where Malcolm's Army Ant suit was displayed. "And then we can see if we can't get you suited up."

Eli nods. During his time in Metropolis, Eli could only do a few exercises in the hotel room when Sam went to sleep and he was free to do so. It was almost like second nature to do so, train and research. But now he was finally able to put all that he had learned to practice and see if it would give him the answers that he wanted.

As his coach always said; "Practice only makes perfect when executed to perfection."

And it was time to put his planning to execution.

* * *

Later that same day, Eli had dragged his body to Ben's to complete his training regiment. He had released enough anger and frustration earlier to even look Ben eye-to-eye without unintentionally scowling at the man. Jade was absent for the training this evening, out doing whatever it is she did when she was by herself. This gave Eli more than his share of "bonding time" with the sagacious Ben Turner.

Currently, the boy was doing some "cool down" push-ups on the flat roof of his apartment building. Due to the evening warmth, Eli was shirtless, his body drenched with sweat and scars from the earlier spar and training with Ben. Ben had praised Eli on his adaptation and intuition in the art of combat, something Eli doubts Ben would have said if Jade had been present. Jade was still years ahead of Eli and it was evident whenever the two were pitted against each other.

This, however, never stopped Eli from competing against her. It compared it to the Cleveland Cavaliers and their chase for a championship. He didn't care how close he got sometimes. He didn't care about Jade's stats in speed or power. He just knew that one day he would beat her and, in that moment, be recognized for such accomplishment.

"Your dedication to your cause is commendable," Ben said as he meditated a yard in front of Eli. "But even I can tell that you're still angry about something."

"Just… My mom… And her… Husband…" Eli responded as he continued his exercise.

Ben released a short laugh. "When isn't it?" The comment made Eli remember that, despite his gruff appearance at times, Ben had humor somewhere inside of him. "I have something to tell you. I won't be here for the last week of July and the first week of August. I wouldn't recommend you go out to do whatever it is you want during those times, but I won't stop you. In the meantime, I have a friend to come and supervise your training."

"Who is he?" Eli questioned.

" _She_ will be staying in a place downtown, Rhodes to be exact." Ben informed. "She was once trained by a close friend of mine, someone who made me understand that there is more than good and bad or black and white."

Eli completed his fifty push-ups before resting on his knees. He was curious as to who this mystery person would be as he safely assumed that it was not Jade. He also wondered if he would have to go up in his push-ups again. Considering that this woman would be present during the days that Eli was supposed to do seventy push-ups instead of fifty during cool downs, he wondered if they would enact that rule, or even know it. He mentally questioned if this woman would even prevent him and Jade for finding Jade's father.

"She can also help you in your transition into a hero. If you're still thinking about it." added Ben after moments of silence.

Eli took in a breath to calm his still racing heart.

"She's a vigilante?" His question was met with one single nod. "Oh…"

Eli rested quietly after that as he watched Ben's chest slowly rise and fall repeatedly. The teen knew best to carry on this conversation during Ben's meditation, so he just waited. To Eli, he needed to know more about some woman he did not know than the man he barely knew. It was strange, but Eli has come accustomed to Ben and the mystery that surrounded the man. But he was not going to have the same relief for some chick who was also one of those idiots in costume.

"She won't kill you." Ben suddenly said, startling Eli out of his thoughts. "I would kill you faster than she would." Eli did not deny that fact but was still slightly unsure about this move. "You asked me to train you to gain answers. I'm giving you someone who can answer more of your questions than I could. As you said, I can only teach you how to fight. She can give you answers."

Now that was something that sold Eli. He had no idea how or why this woman would be able to provide him answers, but answers were something he desperately needed. There had been a brick wall at the end of each road Eli had taken so far- sans going out as a hero himself- and the boy had ended up, with more information than he started, but with no solutions to the problems at hand. Eli presumed that there was no real reason to go find some psychiatrist to explain why Malcolm gambled but if someone could shed light on why Malcolm became the Army Ant and willingly chose to do so as a pastime, then Eli was all up for it.

Then he would kill those Mozgov bastards for what they did.

"There is something else that I want to tell you, something I want you to do." Ben said, gaining Eli's full attention. "I need you to find out who Jade's father is and stop her from killing him and he from killing her."

"What?" Eli retracted in shock at the statement, unable to grasp the thought of a double-homicide between father and daughter. "Jade said… And do you really think that…?" Eli stopped himself before eying Ben squarely. "You _know_ what she has planned?"

"Would I be much of a guardian if I didn't know when she was heading for trouble?" Ben's response gained a small shrug from Eli. "I don't know what about you amuse or attracts her. I suppose that's just teenage hormones. But, I do know that the anger she's had from the start is all at one person. And so long as I am waiting for Carolyn, I can't watch after her."

"…" Eli sat quietly before speaking on the presumptions rising in his mind. "So that's why you're training me. To stop Jade."

Ben stood up. "I'm training you because you asked and I agreed. Anything that comes from that is just a bonus." The man then motion Eli to his feet, Eli rising as fast as his tired body would allow. "I know that Jade had taken you on runs. Now I want you to run with me. The lesson is simple. It's not how fast you can move, it's how fast you can move correctly. Silence is the only thing I want to hear… Or else. Understood?"

Eli only nods. He figured out earlier that Ben would eventually take him running as Jade did. Jade had told him so earlier. Eli wondered if Ben would take him just through Cheshire Square, Jade's personal favorite "track" to run.

"Are you ready?" Eli gave Ben a solid nod, his mind trying to erase any remove any and all complaints from his sore body. "Then let's move."

Eli was not a fan of parkour, a fast-growing trend amongst a good portion of the students at his former high school. However, when running throughout the city with Jade- and now with Ben- the only thing that came to his mind was that if he had just jumped on that bandwagon, this would have been easier.

But once again, practice only made perfect when executed to perfection.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Took some time off but now I'm back. Next chapter, I promise Eli will be in costume and actually doing heroics. I know that it has been quite the wait, but I warned that the build-up would be quite long in this story. In two chapters, there will be a review corner for this story (Chapter 10). Anyways, thanks for waiting and reading and if you have any thoughts, questions, or comments, leave a PM or review and I'll respond in two chapters. Bye.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Notes:** Just a FYI, there will be a time skip in this chapter. Don't worry about it as there will be a flashback chapter that explains what happens between said time skip- which is nothing but two or three days. Please read the author's note at the end of this chapter for updating. Thanks.

 **Chapter Warnings:** The following chapter is rated T for Teen for swearing, racial colloquial term (George is in this chapter...), and small bits of violence.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Nine: A Knight in New Camford

Eli took in a deep breath. For once, Gotham City's dreary skies did not deflate his mood. Even if he was currently working and not there for any familial visit, it was good to see the old Gothic style buildings and gargoyles that lined the downtown area of Gotham City. It also helped that it was a clear night here in Gotham. The city had grown quite the reputation for its dreary skies and rainy nights. Tonight seemed to be different.

The teen was currently within the recreational center that the Stagg Youth Program was hoisting their fundraiser. His brown eyes seemed to see everything and everyone, making sure that the kids were alright and that the adults were not harming said kids. The room he was currently in was the recreational room which housed a bounce house, a station for face-painting, a ball pit, some guy doing card tricks, and an area where the kids could build with some LEGOs.

Eli was, roughly five minutes ago, watching the card tricks himself, shaking his head at the amateur moves that were bedazzling the kids. Surely, he was no stage magician, but he was clearly good enough to see the subtle movements the man made.

Toying with the ID badge on the lanyard around his neck, Eli thought about stepping outside for a break. Sam, who had come down with their mom for the fundraiser, was currently not at any station, but instead was "sword fighting" with foam swords with a kid Eli did not recognize. There were other workers and kids from Ivy Town, Metropolis, New York City, Gotham City, and Happy Harbor currently running about. Eli knew that he could just walk out but he was avoiding Leila at all costs.

Inhaling quietly again, he thought about how Leila was growing increasingly annoying with her questions about Jade. Jade had recently returned from wherever she ran off to and, on that particular day, Leila had stopped by Eli's apartment and saw the girl there with Eli. Once more, the pair was just talking, but Leila had a stubbornness that would not be denied and, after she "felt" that something was going on between Eli and Jade, she was determined to learn more about the Vietnamese girl.

It was more irritating than anything and Eli was not in the mood to hear anymore of it.

"Hi!" Eli blinked and looked to his left, Britney grinning at him in her pink dress. Her blonde hair was in a messy ponytail which came from her ripping and running around the place.

Grinning, Eli acknowledged her. "What're you doing Britney?"

"I was playing in the bounce house! I almost did a front-flip!" she told him excitedly. "I'm going to get a butterfly painted on my face."

"Alright, just make sure you eat dinner with the rest of us." Eli said. He watched her smile slowly disappear, her brown eyes going to the floor. "How about you eat with me and my brother? We'll have our own table and I heard that there will be cake and ice cream."

"Really? Thanks Eli!"

Eli was no stranger to bullying. He was neither a bully himself nor was he ever bullied but he did witness it quite a bit around his neighborhood. The Saints Row Children believed that they owned Cheshire Square and any outsiders- especially those who were not African-American- were always targeted by the gang. Britney was singled out at the home due to her mutation and despite Eli's and Cedric's requests, none of the workers that stayed with the children overnight did anything to stop it.

"You see that boy over there," Eli said to the girl, pointing to Sam. He glanced to see Britney squinting to see who Eli was pointing to before nodding her head. "That's Sam. Stay with him and when it's time to eat, we'll get a table together, okay?"

"'kay! I'm going to go get my face painted now." Britney said. "See ya!"

Eli did not even remind Britney not to run as she dashed off towards the face painting table. It was somehow easy for him to keep track of her in the crowd. Eli looked back at Sam, seeing him still sword fighting with other kids, before leaving the room altogether.

Chatter and childish squeals were hardly muffled by the room's walls and doors and Eli could still hear the chaos that went on inside. The teen ignored it though as he walked down the small hallways, heading towards the double-doors that opened to the dining area. There were several adults seated at the circular tables, all talking about everything but the actual fundraiser.

"Elias," Eli cursed his luck as his mother approached him with another woman in tow. "I want you to meet my former roommate, Maria."

Eli looked at the woman. She had nearly flawless porcelain skin, her dark hair was cut chin-length, and her dark blue eyes actually shined with some lingering thrills from her teenage years. Eli noted that Maria took great care of herself and her looks, easily being able to go toe-to-toe with any of these teen models in the states. With the two women standing side-by-side, Eli could easily see how his mother was the more studious one and how Maria was the partygoer.

"I knew you'd have a baby with Miles," Maria said with a pearly white smile. "My God Lee, he's a handsome little man, isn't he? How do you keep the girls away from him?"

Leila rolled her eyes upwards. "You haven't changed a bit Maria."

"And you have?" Maria argued before smiling at Eli. "I bet your mom here pretends to be all business but deep down there is a little girl that just wants to see the lights."

"Uh-huh…" Eli was unsure how to respond. Sure, he had always seen his mother as a buzz-kill but he had never outright said it in front of her and he was sure his dad has never done it as well.

"Oh don't worry, sweetie! Your mom totally knows she can be a killjoy. Right Lee?" Eli was actually interested in his mother's response. The Bialyan woman merely smiled at her former roommate.

"Elias isn't interested in our college days, Maria. That and I doubt that he would want to hear stories about his mother and father, as well as whatever stories you have about Carla as well." Leila stated before giving Eli a warm smile. "I wanted you to meet a friend of mine from Gotham. Again, she and your dad butted heads quite often…"

Maria waved Leila off. "Miles was always hovering over you. He wouldn't let you have a little fun." Maria then gave Leila a wicked smile. "And then came senior year…"

The laugh shared between the two women made Eli think that something happened that his father, who was most likely in Qurac at the time, probably did not know about. Eli tried to image Leila at a party or club- as it seemed to be much easier envisioning Maria- in the past. He admits that his mother was not bad-looking and could see how guys her age, now and in the past, would be attracted to her. But clubs? Wild college parties? Did Leila Rassan actually go to places like that?

"Um," Eli finally said. "I'm going to go step out for a while. I was starting to get a headache with all the screaming."

"Go ahead. I will be here catching up with Maria." Leila told her son. "Please be back for the banquet."

"I will."

Eli left the chattering women, his head beginning to hurt with each passing thought. No, it was not the kids, but the thoughts of his mother partying as a teenager. It was hard. His mother, Leila Nolan, did not party. She did not think of parties. She did not want to dream that Eli was thinking about parties.

And yet she did. Sometime in the past, possibly a _long_ time ago, Leila Rassan actually went to parties with her roommate Maria and, most likely, Eli's future aunt, Carla, as well. That was something to think about during a quieter day/night.

After making it outdoors, Eli took in the night's air. Gotham City would probably never win for the best air quality but there was an addictive taste to it that was both harmful and yet somehow soothing at the same time. Eli realized that that familiar smell could have come from the man smoking in the parking lot but he digresses.

Standing alone in front of the building, the teen became lost in his thoughts. He had not been able to rest as of lately due to his need to gain answers. He had studied longer, trained harder, and grew hungrier for these answers for the past week. Even now, as he stood completely still and stared at the cleared night sky above, his mind was racing through every possible scenario about whatever Tobias Whale was up to with the Mozgov Family.

So caught up in his thoughts, Eli was unprepared for when a smaller body collided into his from behind. Instinctively, he twisted, his right hand already balled into a fist to strike what could be an attacker, only to see a redhead covering her face in embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry!" she said quickly as Eli slowly dropped his hand. "I wasn't paying attention."

"It's alright." Eli said, more to himself than to the girl. "I shouldn't be standing right in front of the door anyway."

"No, I was busy looking at my phone." she stated before sighing. "Just wanted to get out of here honestly."

"I know what you mean."

There was a moment of silence where Eli was able to take in the redhead's appearance. She was obviously dressed for the event, wearing a black dress that did very well to compliment her growing athletic curves. Her blue eyes were behind a pair of black-framed rectangular glasses that, in a word, looked rather geek-chic on her. With her heels on, they stood at eye level.

"I'm Barbara," she introduced before reading his name tag. "Nice to meet you, Elias."

"Eli." he corrected. "You don't have a badge so you don't work for the Stagg Youth Program. Do you work for Stagg at all?"

Barbara shook her head. "No. My dad was inviting to this and dragged me and my brother to it." Barbara paused and sighed. "Of course, James is having too much fun now."

"My little brother is doing the same thing." Eli commented.

"How is it?" Eli raised his brows at her. "Working with them? I work at the library and know that sometimes, kids can get out of hand."

Eli shrugged. "It's alright. Miss Stagg told me that all I had to do was talk to the kids from time to time, but I asked to watch after the younger kids instead."

Barbara exhaled. "Must be tough. More excitement than the library though."

Eli gave the girl a second glance. On appearance, he assumed she was smart but did not want to voice it and seem presumptuous. He continued his observation, through her words, that she was either a thrill-seeker or someone who had adventurous hobbies. Either that, or she was one of those girls who read books about the lives that she wanted.

"So… Do you live in Gotham?" Barbara attempted to break the awkwardness between them, seeing the other teen give her a scrutinizing stare that, while she has grown accustomed to with her work with the Dark Knight, she still hated.

"No, New Camford," Eli said before adding, "It's in Connecticut."

"I know. My mom took us to the beach there two years ago. Drayton Pier." Eli nodded at her words, still studying the girl. "It was fun."

"Better than the Amusement Mile, in my opinion," said the male.

Barbara grinned. " _Everything_ is better than the Amusement Mile. It hasn't been fully operational in years now." The redhead then frowned. "How'd you know about that?"

"I have family here in Gotham. My dad's from here as well." Eli told her. "When I was a kid, I remember their last day. My cousin and I were pissed that we were too small to ride all the roller coasters." Eli took a moment to let the memory resurface completely, a smile on his face. "Mallory and I spent the entire day on the bumper cars instead."

Barbara smiled as well. There was a strange vibe about the boy she had followed outside out of pure boredom. She could not put her finger on it but there was something eye-catching about the boy and it was not looks.

She deterred in her thoughts. Not to say that Eli was _not_ attractive, it was just that this _something_ was a lot more attractive than what he physically had to offer.

"By the way," Eli suddenly said. "Where can I get an invisible phone?"

Barbara blinked. The average run-of-the-mill guy would not have even caught onto her lie, a theory she had been experimenting with for months now. So long as she kept at least one hand behind her back, as she had been during this entire conversation, the guy never asked about her phone, just her number. Now, the redhead was not promiscuous in the least. This experiment was just to get her friends and stepmother off of her back about dating. If she talked to and shot down one guy every two weeks, then they would just presume that Barbara had set her standards too high.

But this Eli kid from New Camford seemed to be someone in her ballpark…

"Um, well-"

"Don't worry about it," Eli waved her lame excuse attempt off. "So I hear that there's a giant bat in Gotham City. Have you ever seen him?"

By now, Eli had figured that there was no harm in talking to Barbara. It heavily contrasted his time with Jade where his mind would list at least ten reasons why he should just leave Jade alone. Instead, he felt comfortable around the redhead, almost as if he was talking to Hannah for the first time all over again.

At least, Eli figured, his headache was slowly leaving.

The pair would continue to converse, moving farther away from the door but never leaving the entry walkway in front of the building. Eli mentally noted how vivid Barbara's memory actually was. He debated if she was actually able to recall things in detail like she was or if she was just making things up as she went along. Then she told him about the colors at one of her past birthday parties with the sincerest smiles that made him believe that her recalling was just that good, almost photographic.

At the same time, Barbara realized what that "something" was that Eli apparently had; intelligence. Sure, he was no genius, but he was easily able to piece things together or spot that something was out of order before figuring out why that something was where it was. She put this deduction together when she saw Eli catch every single person that entered and exit the event, his eyes always narrowing when he was thinking why said person was coming or leaving and then relaxing whenever he apparently figured his answer. He so quietly as well, as to not interrupt her whenever she spoke, and then went back on with the conversation as if he was not inspecting everyone that came by.

It was roughly twenty minutes into their time when Eli caught the sight of an exiting man who he assumed was searching for someone or something. The man turned his head right and then left where the two stood, before calling out.

"There you are Barbara," Eli inhaled quietly as he the graying man approached them. "James said that he saw you leaving."

"Oh, no! I was just, um, talking to Eli." Barbara said, her discomfort clearly heard. "Eli, this is my dad, Commissioner Jim Gordon. Dad, this is one of the Stagg Youth workers, Eli."

Eli once more inspected the man. The GCPD commissioner was surprisingly Eli's height, possibly an inch or two taller. Seeing his father and Nick, Eli safely predicted that the man held some sort of military background just by how Jim carried himself.

"Please to meet you," Commissioner Gordon said with an outstretched hand. Eli accepted the gesture, shaking hands with the man. "So you work for the Stagg Youth, eh? It must be tough wrestling with those little ones in there. Lord knows I don't have the energy."

Barbara's face scrunched up. "Have you been smoking again?"

"Don't tell Sarah. Please Barb?" Eli watched the girl's body show signs of her relenting but her face stated that the conversation was far from being dropped. When Eli retracted his hand, Commissioner Gordon shoved his hands into his pants pockets "They are getting ready for the banquet. I came out here to get you."

Seeing his chance, Eli finally spoke up.

"I need to help get the kids prepared. Plus I promised my brother and one of the kid's at the house in New Camford that I'd eat with them." Eli said as he casually walked by the daughter and father duo. "Nice to meet you, Commissioner Gordon. You too Barbara."

"Yeah, um, maybe I'll see you before you leave?" Barbara questioned.

Eli grinned. "Maybe."

Eli ignored whatever words were exchanged by the pair as he reentered the building. As he approached the banquet hall in the rather fancy building, he could hear the cluster chatter. He paused before entering, making a quick trip to the bathroom to wash his hands. Once that was finished, he entered the hall and searched for his brother and Britney.

"Eli!" But of course, Britney would find him first, the little girl waving her hands wildly over her head to get his attention. "Over here!"

Eli was not even annoyed at her antics and walked towards the circular table with a smile on his face. He sat at the table, making sure to look at the large rectangular tables where the other kids sat to see if all those from the New Ivy Metro house were accounted for.

The boy then turned his attention to the bouncing Britney and the highly curious Sam. Neither child paid attention to the other, Sam too busy looking at everything going on around them while Britney was busy smiling at Eli. It was only after Leila sat down that the two kids found a common focal point on the woman.

"Hi!" Britney introduced herself. "I'm Britney!"

"It's good to meet you Britney," Leila responded with the kindest smile Eli has ever seen. For a moment, he was almost _jealous_ of the gesture as it was clearly something he hasn't received in years. "I'm Eli's mother, Mrs. Nolan."

Britney's eyes widened. "You're his mommy? That's cool! Eli's the nicest grown-up I know!"

"Well he really isn't a grown-up yet, but I can understand why you think he's cool. Sam thinks the same thing." Leila replied before looking at her oldest son. "By the way, Miss Reynolds was not too happy about Britney not sitting with the other children. You might have quite the talk next Saturday."

Eli shrugged. "Don't care really. I've told Miss Reynolds about how the other workers treat Britney. She should do something about it." Eli's thought slowed to a pause as his eyes caught Barbara a few tables to his right. "But… She hasn't…"

Perplexed by whatever had her son's attention, Leila skillfully followed his line of sight to the redhead. The woman took a mental picture of the girl before looking back to see Eli giving her a warning glare of his own. Leila yielded in her questioning for now, letting tonight be more about the kids than Eli's obvious interest in the mysterious redhead.

"Hey Eli," Sam gained both Eli's and Leila's attention. "Can we work on my shot the next time your off?"

Eli's face scrunched up. "No," Leila was not surprised by her older son's remark. She was going to console her youngest child before Eli spoke again. "You need to work on your ball handling and we can do that in the driveway. And if you do good there, _then_ we'll work on your shot."

"It's 'do well' and thank you Elias." Leila was quick to correct Eli before giving him his proper praise.

Eli's eyes connected with Barbara's once more, the girl smiling in his direction.

"Don't mention it…"

For once, the city of crime fights and lime lights that was Gotham City did not seem so dreary. It actually had a shade of red to it, a color Eli was rather fond of.

"Who's she?"

But of course, Sam would find someway to ruin the night.

* * *

Three nights ago, Sapphire Stagg held a fundraiser for her Stagg Youth Program in Gotham City. The event, not only attracted some deep-pocketed supporters, but gained quite the amount of air-time on _Gotham Tonight with Mike Engel._ The publicity would do the program- and Stagg Enterprise as whole- some justice with the incoming of potential clients.

But of course, none of that mattered.

Tonight was about the city of New Camford and the serene injustice that occurred during the city's nightlife. On a national level, New Camford flew under the crime radar. Its hotels and clubs were rather unknown to those in the other parts of the states, but here in Connecticut- and even as far down south as D.C- people were well aware of the contained chaos that the night life brought to New Camford.

One lesson that he had learned in school was the city's unofficial motto is "Where great minds come together," a nod towards the rumor that the word "Camford" was a portmanteau of the universities Oxford and Cambridge. This was a lie of course, but children born in the late eighties till today hardly distinguished the actual history of the town and the rumors that float around it. Though, just from being in the city, one could understand why it would be considered an Oxbridge town. With the inclusion of Ivy University (or Conn-4 to the locals), the city was quite rich in history and modern technology. Not overly so as Metropolis was, thanks to one Lex Luthor, but enough so that the history was preserved with great care and the new technology did not interfere with it. It really was Connecticut's prodigal son for both old and new.

The teen released a small breath as he stared down at the streets beneath him. Another key difference between New Camford and Gotham City was the alleyways in the cities. Gotham's alleys were nearly void of any positivity at nights, one being named specifically for the crime that happens there. New Camford, however, had a blend of dark, destitute paths of doom and then well-lit, welcoming alleys that sheltered late-night cafés and still-functioning art theaters.

"Barbara would love it here," the teen muttered to himself, the warm air being a bit too comforting and causing him to relax a lot more than he should be. "Now where is this meeting going down?"

Blowing out another puff of exasperated air, the boy squatted as he leaned over the edge of the roof. Wearing his black high-tech suit allowed him to blend in perfectly with the night sky, the lighting in this particular area also working to aid his furtive presence. The black domino mask styled in his favor miraculously kept his identity hidden from the world. Well, that and his knack for avoiding any and every type of reporter there is.

A van pulled up at the end of the dim-lit alleyway, three men getting out as soon as it was turned off. Nightwing watched carefully as two of the men went to the back of the van and opened the doors. Seconds later, they pulled out a wooden crate, the third man closing the door behind them, before the trio walked further into the alley.

"Boy, I didn't think he'd come through, you know?" one of the men carrying the crate spoke.

"Yeah, never thought I could trust a guy that calls himself Killer Moth," the other man carrying the crate said. "Gotham really has some characters, don't they?"

The third guy, who was noticeably the thinnest and shortest of the trio, moved past his two companions carrying the crate and walked towards a backdoor in the alley. Nightwing watched as the third man revealed a key from his pocket and stuck it in the lock.

At least they wouldn't add Breaking and Entering to the list of crimes tonight, mused the hidden vigilante.

"This will help us a lot against those Russians on the coast." the first man said as they entered the place and out of Nightwing's sight. "I'd like to see their faces when we show up with these!"

Nightwing weighed his options. His ultimate goal was to find an escaped criminal known as Killer Moth, the guy who had apparently given these guys their new "toys". This being his first major mission outside of Gotham City- and more importantly _not_ as a sidekick- meant that he called the shots. He could destroy the guns and have tail the three until they eventually met up with Killer Moth… Or he could simply just go in there, beat the crap out of two of them, and interrogate the third one into giving him the information he needed.

Nightwing paused. This was a lot harder than he thought. Again, this was his first mission outside of the Gotham-Bludhaven area (mostly referred to the Gotham City Metro) and his first job without the aid of Batman, Batgirl, and/or Alfred.

A crash caught the teen's attention before the door was flung open.

"Holy shit! Let's get out of here!"

Nightwing watched one of the thugs running for his life towards the main street. Nightwing identified the running man as one of the two carriers of the case. The young hero quietly questioned what was going on until he saw the thinnest man running after his partner.

"Wait for-ow! Fuck!" The man hit the ground hard, holding his right leg. "He fucking shot me!"

He? Nightwing stood up and prepped his entrance before he saw a shadow beneath him. The Gothamite questioned if he should actually help the criminals he was originally tailgating with the mysterious gunman or not.

"Don't move or the next one goes through your head," The unseen gunman's voice was deep and distorted, evidence of a voice changer being used. The person soon came into view as the injured man attempted to crawl away. "I won't tell you again…"

The threat was enough to force Nightwing to reach for his belt, getting two custom-made batarangs. He had yet to come up with a name for them just yet, but he did ask Lucius to design them differently from Batman's. His eyes narrowed in on the gunman to take in the appearance of him or her. After what he had dealt with in Gotham City, there really was no way of telling just who was under the yellow hood.

Speaking of which, Nightwing made a mental note on the person's description. Black cargo pants that, by appearance, looked quite basic with pockets filled with items Nightwing assumed aided the masked gunman. The gunman's boots, however, looked as if they were lightly armored- enough for protection and yet, not overly so to hinder mobility. There were large yellow gauntlets on the gunman's arms that looked as if they could be used for melee weapon, though Nightwing was sure that they had another use.

The one key description to the mysterious person was the yellow jacket that he wore. At glance, it looked like a black-striped hooded yellow sports jacket with the black strip running up along sleeves. On the back of the jacket was a black wasp or hornet insignia which, Nightwing admitted, was pretty great considering that the former Robin was still in the feeling-out process about what symbol he would use now.

Bats were clearly ruled out.

"I want information on Bookworm and Killer Moth," The yellow-wearing gunman said to the downed thug. "I already know that Moth gave you those guns and that you and your little clique have problems with the SRC." The hooded figure then stepped on the downed man's left ankle, pressing hard into it. "So I'm going to ask nicely: Where is Killer Moth?"

"Ah! I don't know!" the injured thug pleaded. "He calls us to meet him at weird places! He sells this stuff for cheap! Said he doesn't need the money and that business was booming in New Camford!"

There was a moment of silence with Nightwing just watching and waited from his position. Was this mysterious gunman in yellow going to kill this guy? Was he working for some other criminal out for Killer Moth?

The mysterious vigilante pocketed his gun in a holster on his lower back, beneath the yellow jacket he wore. Nightwing watched as the gunman stepped off of his prey's ankle before squatting next to him. Silent words were exchanged, words that Nightwing could not hear, and then the person in yellow moved his right hand in a striking moment. The downed man let out a grunt of pain before his body went limp.

Now Nightwing made his move. Quietly scaling down the building with the aid of a line, he quietly walked up behind the hooded figure.

"Turn around slowly," Nightwing voiced his command in a calm, yet firm, voice. "I think we'd better talk."

The hooded figure did as Nightwing requested and removed his hood in the process. Now Nightwing saw the yellow mask of the guy, noting the vertical black line that went down the center of it, his eyes covered by a pair of dark goggles. The mask covered the guy's entire face, a balaclava Dick mentally noted.

"Who are you?" the deep computerized voice asked Nightwing.

"Me? I'm Nightwing." The vigilante in yellow gave a small tilt of his head. "Yeah, I thought so…" Nightwing sighed before pointing to the other guy. "So, you are one of those New Camford heroes, huh? I heard that there's supposed to be like ten of you."

"They're busy." Nightwing gave a nod at the statement. Obviously there was someone with worse people skills than Batman. "Why are you here, Nightwing?"

"Me? I was following those guys to find where Killer Moth has escaped. I-"

"You're from Gotham." It wasn't a question. It was a statement filled with assertion. "I heard that Killer Moth escaped with others. How?"

"Well it wasn't-"

"Batman had better things to do?" The guy in yellow questioned.

"Well… Actually, yeah, he did." Nightwing answered. "But that's not important. What's important is that you find that last guy and-"

"He's going home, a few blocks from here. I didn't let him go without a reason." Nightwing was getting a bit annoyed by the guy already, being interrupted twice in an unimpressed know-it-all voice. "You want Killer Moth. I want his friend, Bookworm."

"Bookworm and Killer Moth aren't necessarily friends. And how do you know so much about them?" responded Nightwing.

"I do my homework. Especially about people in my city." There was a pregnant pause. "I haven't heard of any Nightwing from Gotham City- or that area. What are you really doing here?"

Nightwing stood silent for a while as he eyed the yellow gunman. When he had heard about the increasing numbers of dying vigilantes in New Camford from Lucius, he thought about the remainder of those that hid in the shadows and watched over the streets of their beloved city. Lucius said that they were not all too friendly and that, in rare cases, attempted to "defend their town" against outsiders both good and bad.

Was this guy one of those cases?

"I'm here to take them back, Killer Moth and Bookworm." Nightwing finally answered. "I got word that they ran up here after escaping from Blackgate, three of them. Bookworm was just one of them and Killer Moth and Ratcatcher came up here afterwards. I was hoping that I could find someone from New Camford to show me around. Not saying I get lost easily, but-"

"You talk too much." With that, the guy in yellow held his left arm upwards. Dick was surprised when a grappling line fired upwards before the masked gunman reeled himself upwards.

"Hey! Wait!" Nightwing said as he grabbed his grappling hook and followed him.

Nightwing was quick to realize that he was following someone who was not as acrobatic as he was, nor was this mysterious guy as smooth as a veteran. Small little stumbles were easily spotted by someone with the training Richard had and he was sure that whoever this New Camford resident was, he was at least athletic. Not quite Olympic level athlete, but athletic nonetheless.

"So," Nightwing said as the two dashed across a flat roof. "What do they call you?"

"…"

The guy in yellow was silent as the two leapt in unison, crossing the small gap onto another building. Nightwing grunted quietly, unsure just how to approach this guy now.

The silence was deafening, even with the wind blowing through their ears. Nightwing chose to ignore the silent guy for a moment and focus on his surroundings. They were in a rather quaint neighborhood, with well-kept townhomes that lined the street. As the yellow jacket-wearing vigilante not-so-quietly went down a fire escape, Nightwing noted that the streets were well-lit by the street lamps and void of life.

The pair hid in the shadows beside one of the townhomes, Nightwing cautiously looking out for any type of surveillance.

"Who's the third wheel?" Nightwing actually jumped as the female voice came from behind him. Nightwing turned around to see a girl standing with her arms crossed. Her dark hair was pulled back in a long ponytail, green eyes glaring at the teen from Gotham like a cat prepping a pounce. The lower half of her face was covered by a dark green mask.

"He calls himself Nightwing," The guy in the yellow jacket said. "He's not important. Did he arrive yet?"

"A few seconds ago," the girl responded as she stepped by Nightwing in her long-sleeve dark green kimono and black leggings. A blade strapped across her back. "So did you get my information?"

"Room 313 at the Hilton. Has the room until next Sunday. We'll have to go before then." The gunman said. "You don't have to stay. I can handle it from here."

"Good. I can probably get back before he realizes that we did more than go for our normal run." The girl said. "Just make sure you keep your friend out of Cheshire Square. I doubt he could handle the SRC."

"…" Again, the yellow-hooded vigilante was silent as the girl left, not at all shy about sashaying her hips for the two males.

"I take it that you know each other?" Nightwing asked his quiet unofficial partner. "…Right. So this is where the other guy went?"

"His name is Randall Anderson, a former employee at a Dick's Sporting Goods in Ivy Town." The other guy began quietly. "His girlfriend owns the townhome here, a recent graduate from Cam State whose parents bought her this. She works as a nurse at the Zane Memorial Hospital."

Nightwing frowned, absorbing the information. "And why did we chase him home?"

"I wanted to see if I was right." The statement nearly floored Richard. "I guessed that he would return home if things went to shit. Looks like I was right."

"And how long have you been doing this?"

Again, Nightwing's question was unanswered as guy reached for his goggles with his left hand. Nightwing watched in fascination as his partner appeared to be adjusting the vision of the goggles, his fingers pinching around the left lens and turning. A click was heard and Nightwing soon realized that those black goggles must have several different visual aids that was allowing this still unnamed guy to see whatever.

"Can you fight?" the question seemingly came from nowhere and, even though he was not looking at Nightwing, Nightwing knew the question was for him.

"Uh, yeah, but…" Nightwing was unsure just what was going on and was even more cautious when the masked guy pulled out, what looked like, a grenade. "What are you…?"

The masked gunman chose not to answer, again, simply stepping out into the front yard. Richard was beside himself at the bold gesture. This guy, whoever he was, clearly did not do things like, well, like Batman did. There was no chance in hell Batman would be caught just standing in someone's front yard unless he had some ingenious plan to do something so foolish.

Nightwing actually watched the scene unfold as the gunman knocked on the door twice and then rang the doorbell. There was a conversation in the home, one that Nightwing could barely make out. There was a woman questioning who was behind the door and a man, clearly frantic, telling her to not open the door. Seconds later, the hooded teen in front of Nightwing tossed the grenade through the large bay window. A shout, a scream, and a shriek followed as the supposed hero in yellow dove through said window and entered the house.

"Well, it's official," Nightwing spoke quietly. "I am officially impressed."

Nightwing could hear the sounds of fighting, glass shattering, and a crash. Two minutes later, the door opened and the yellow-wearing gunman walked out, rubbing his left arm.

"His friends will be here soon. Until then, he's all yours." he said to Nightwing while walking away. "Hornet."

"What?" Nightwing asked but the gunman had fired his grappling line to the top of the housing complex, reeling himself up into the darkness.

It was then that Nightwing went to inspect the damage. Stepping into the home he saw the man and woman unconscious on the floor, the man sporting a noticeable split lip from Nightwing's vantage point. The coffee table in the living room had been shattered, a lamp destroyed as well. Nightwing then spotted a vibrating cell phone that had been on the phone, its lit screen catching his eye.

Walking towards it, he knelt down and picked it up, reading the name on the screen.

"Walker…"

* * *

The following morning seemed quite surreal. The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The sky was a nice light blue with a few white clouds floating by. Even without a full-course breakfast being made by one of the greatest chefs that he knew, Richard Grayson made it a point to always remember New Camford mornings if they were all like this.

The fifteen-year-old "runaway" was currently in residing in a hotel in the downtown area of the city as the ones on the coast were a bit high price and mostly booked for summer tourists. He was sure that his adopted father knew where he was, whether by some unknown tracker on his person or Lucius Fox telling the Dark Knight, so he was not necessarily in hiding. He was just taking some time to let things cool between them.

And Barbara…

Richard sighed and got out of bed, moving to stand at the large floor-to-ceiling windows. Dressed in t-shirt and shorts, the boy had not planned on doing much today. It had been a month since he left Gotham City, spending most of the time in Metropolis with Clark Kent, who was unknown to the world as Superman. The teen had a falling out with Bruce after refusing to be a sidekick anymore, telling the man that they were partners or nothing at all. And while he thought that Batman would reconsider his choice of words, the Dark Knight simply ordered the at-the-time Robin to return to the Cave and wait there for the rest of patrol.

Needless to say what happened next and now Richard was here in the city of New Camford. His blue eyes seemed to absorb the rich culture of the New England city, pairing it with the small town of Bludhaven. They were practically polar opposites, like twins that did everything in their power to distinguish themselves apart. Where Bludhaven showed its scars, New Camford continuously covered its bruises. Bludhaven converted most of its shorelines into docks while New Camford had a nice beach to bring in a good sum of tourists. Bludhaven buried its children; New Camford just buried those who died trying to protect their children.

Yet, like twins, there was a deep-rooted common denominator that each city had. The organize crime that filled the police stations in Bludhaven were no different that the corruption that filled the political and business offices here in New Camford. The citizens of both cities had pack-like mentality as well. The wolf, dog-eat-dog mentality of those born and raised in Bludhaven made outsiders very easy to spot out. The city of New Camford, however, was a lion-like group. While they were dangerous by themselves, when they joined together to actually do something, they protected their home with their pride.

The buzzing of Richard's cell phone caught the teenager's attention. Walking to the nightstand where it rested, he saw the name on the screen and answered almost without thought.

"Yeah Babs?" Richard answered.

"Hey… Um, you got a second?" Barbara asked.

Richard sat on the bed. "Yeah, what's up? Did you runaway too?"

"No. And I don't think I ever will." returned redhead before releasing a sigh. "It's been kind of quiet without you, you know? Where are you?"

"He hasn't told you?" Barbara gave a negative response and Richard hummed in thought. "Maybe he doesn't know then…" He figured that Bruce would keep Barbara in the loop, if Bruce actually knew himself where Richard had run off to. "I'm in New Camford. Got a tip of where some of those stowaways are hiding."

"Dick, look, can you let that one night go? It was an honest mistake and-"

"It wasn't a mistake Barbara. He chose to go after Joker while Blackgate needed him. They needed _us_." interrupted the boy. "And we followed him for what? Just to put the Joker into another cell that he's going to escape while criminals escaped Blackgate?"

Barbara exhaled in minor vexation. "I didn't call to argue Dick. I called to talk to you about something we promised each other. Oddly, it has to do with New Camford…"

"What is it?" he asked while trying to think of all the possible things that he could have promised his friend.

"If we ever started dating again, we'd tell the other. Remember that one?" Richard's silence answered his question. "It was last year Dick. We were at my place. Ring any bells?"

"Um… Maybe?"

"Typical!" He had no choice but to release a nervous chuckle. "Anyway, I met a guy at the fundraiser a few days ago."

Richard lied back in the bed. "Uh huh? What's his name?"

"His name is Eli and he lives in New Camford. He said he would visit down here soon so we could talk. His cousin lives here." Barbara explained. "And before you think about it, I've already done a background check on the guy. He's completely normal."

Richard chuckled. "Says the redhead with picture-perfect memory who secretly dresses up as a bat."

"Must I remind you of your first costume _Robin_?" teased Barbara. Richard's laugh returned as he remembered the outfit that consisted of, what Barbara referred to as, a green speedo. "Seriously though, I can actually talk to him without him going 'huh' all the time."

"You mean he's as boring and nerdy as you are? Good luck then." Richard lightheartedly taunted.

"Screw you!"

"No, seriously, good luck Babs. Hopefully it will be something normal instead of whatever the hell we had." Richard said. "Sometimes it felt like dating two people; Barbara Gordon and Batgirl."

"I… I know what you mean." was the quiet response. "Um, so, how was Metropolis? Did Lucius send you your new costume? Did you decide on a name?"

"Whoa, one question at a time." joked Richard. "Metropolis was… Okay, I guess. Lucius did send me a costume that didn't make me look like someone from the sixties. Less yellow, more black and blue. And Clark gave me the perfect codename; Nightwing."

"Nightwing? Not bad." Barbara said. "Maybe he can give me a better codename than Batgirl."

"How about the 'Amazing Red?'" Barbara scoffed at the suggestion. "No? Okay, okay, how about Flamebird? Or Phoenix? Or-"

"Why does it have to be a bird? Or red?" questioned Barbara.

"Because honestly Barbara, you don't really have a personality out of the normal nerd cliché." pointed out the boy. "You study nonstop whenever you're not on patrol- for no reason, I might want to add. You work at a library _willingly_. And to top it off, the last time you've been out of the house for some fun, Bruce didn't know we were dating."

There was a silence that followed, one that Richard was no stranger to. His female companion was merely thinking of what he was saying and trying to compare it to either facts she knew or her own personal opinion.

Realizing that she must have a legitimate point to his statement and was struggling to find a counter, Richard thought about moving on with the conversation.

"So he's here in New Camford?" Richard voiced.

"Uh huh. But don't go looking for him. That'll be weird." Barbara said. "He'll probably think that I'm some weirdo who stalks him by sending my ex to talk to him."

Richard smirked. "But you did do a background check on him."

"That he'll never know." Barbara was quick to mention. "Seriously, Eli seems… Different. Like I can talk to him."

"And those other guys were just…?" Richard did not finish his statement in hopes that Barbara would fill in the blank.

"Horny, deprived, unpardonable boys." Richard grinned again at her words.

"Is 'unpardonable' even a word?" A scoff came from the other end. "Seriously Babs, if this guy can somehow get you out of the house, he could be from Krypton for all I care. Just go have some fun. You need to get out from under Batman's cape." The boy froze at the statement, realizing the sexual implications to that declaration. "I should've thought that one through…"

Barbara giggled. "Yeah, you should've!"

Richard laughed quietly at his mistake, glad that it had at least brought laughter to his ex. There was not much to say about his mistakes with Barbara other than that they ranged from really minor to gigantically catastrophic. It amazed him that they were even still friends, let alone that he had the pleasure of dating her. He had no idea who this Eli character was but Richard honestly wished the best for Barbara.

Between them, she was the only one that thought that both Bruce Wayne and Batman were men to look up to.

"I have to get to work soon," Barbara voiced. "I hate Mondays."

Richard gave a quiet sigh. "Sure. Call whenever. I'm going to go out for a while myself. See if I can't enjoy the day and find those guys at the same time."

"Or you could just enjoy the day. Drayton Pier is great and there're probably a handful of half-naked girls at the beach. Go meet them." Barbara suggested. "Just don't get too caught up in tracking these guys down or you'll end up going from Batman's junior partner to Batman's copy and one is enough."

Richard smiled softly at her choice of words. She purposely avoided calling him a sidekick as that was the start of his entire problem with the man he calls an adopted father. The boy had grown tired of hearing that word on and off the television, especially when it was directed towards him. And no one knew that better than Barbara.

"Fine, I'll try to enjoy the day." Richard said.

"Thanks Dick." Barbara responded before quickly adding, "And don't go find Eli either!"

Richard chuckled. "I won't Babs. Bye."

Barbara returned the sentiment before the call was ended. Richard now sat on the bed in silence, trying to think of a way to waste the day. He could renege his offer and actually go find this Eli character but realized that somehow, someway, Barbara would find out. He could also search the city to find the Hornet of New Camford but did not know exactly where to begin his search.

The teen sat for nearly five minutes before he eventually turned the television on. The popular _Ice T at a Lemonade Stand_ GEICO commercial was playing before resuming the local news program.

 _"Thanks for coming back, now with news on the strange breaking-and-entering at a townhome in Rhodes. Taylor Summers- a recent Cam State graduate- says that a 'grenade flew' into her window before releasing flashes and a thick smoke."_ The unfamiliar local newsman reported. _"She says that a man in a yellow jacket came in and beat her boyfriend, twenty-seven year old Randall Anderson before knocking them both out with 'a weird dart.' Authorities also found twenty-four year old Joshua Nash in an alley not too far away from Summers' home, also beaten, with directions to a nearby crate of assault rifles. Police say that they believe that Nash- and possibly Anderson- were involve with an illegal arms deal and was stopped by this Yellow Jacket. We'll have more information about that later, but for now, the weather in New Camford."_

"Sure," Richard said as he got out of bed, now walking for the bathroom for a shower. "Talk about the kid in freaking yellow and not the guy was with him. It's not like I didn't go through _two outfits_ just so I don't look stupid on national TV…"

* * *

Eli took in a deep breath as he relaxed on the sofa in the living room at his dad's apartment. Nick was not pleased that he had stolen the suit that he had found within the hideout and took it out for a test run; Nick was angrier that Eli did it two nights back-to-back.

It was Nick's current anger that had Eli presently resting at his apartment. That, and an early workout with Ben had Eli doing absolutely nothing but being bothered by Jade at the moment. The girl was currently sitting on the floor, her back against the armchair, a canned soda to her left with a small bag of chips to her right.

"They're calling you the 'Yellow Jacket'. Kind of fitting, don't you think?" Eli knew she was taunting him and his dislike for the color yellow. "Oh come on _Elias_. Don't be like that."

His brown eyes met green ones and he practically sneered at her smug look.

"Is there a reason that you're here?" he asked the teen in, yet again, nothing but a sports bra and yoga pants. Her hair was, in a rare moment, lying loosely on her back with a few sweaty strands sticking to her face.

Jade gave him a pout. "What? You're telling me that those days away didn't make you miss me?"

The boy said nothing. During his time in Metropolis and in Gotham City, the boy actually did miss Jade. Sadly, not in the way that he missed normal people either. Those moments when he did miss Jade were moments he wished he had someone around to beat the living hell out of whoever it was that was annoying Eli at the time; i.e. Robert's nieces and nephews. There was no one that Eli knew that would have enjoyed beating those kids as much as Jade probably would, outside of Eli himself.

Those annoying brats actually deserved it…

"I know," Jade continued. "That Ben talked to you about my dad. He didn't tell you who he was, did he?" Eli shook his head. "Good. It'll make it more fun."

Eli raised his brows. "Why is that?"

"I told you that if you continued to chase after your dad, you'd become a hero yourself, didn't I?" Her remark was devoid of any anger or mockery. However, there was a suggestive tone to each word she said. "I'm not a 'play music in my front yard' kind of girl. It takes more than looks and a dinner to get me excited as well."

Eli only scoffed jokingly as he looked upwards at the ceiling. Once more, he got the idea that Jade was some for of a masochist and that she got aroused during physical fights a lot more than the average person should- if any did. He made a mental note to look into it later but for now he had time to rest and he was going to enjoy it.

"Just the thought that you could figure out who he is gets me… Excited." Jade finished with a smile.

Eli snorted a laugh. "Why in the hell are you here?"

"Because you could use the company," Jade stated. "Plus, I have time to kill. Entertain me."

"…" Eli's response was killed by someone banging their fist on his door.

"Yo Eli! Open up!" Eli saw Jade roll her eyes at George's request.

"You know," Jade voiced as Eli got up to see what George wanted. "If I did want to have sex with you, I'm sure he'd kill the mood. I do _not_ do threesomes."

"If I ever wanted to sleep with you," Eli commented. "This would be the moment I do us both a favor and put a bullet through his head." Eli did not have to see the smile on Jade's face and opened the door, only for George to push his way inside. "What the hell is your problem?"

"What the fuck is she doing here?" George asked as he eyed the highly amused Jade.

"We were studying for the SAT. Why does it matter?" was Eli's sarcastic response. "What the hell has you barging into my place?"

George turned to Eli. "Man, look, I think Eric fucked up. Big time. Some nigga from Dakota came through here looking for some blow. Eric sold him some, dude didn't have much, you know? Nigga liked it and called some of his boys back in Ohio. Ten minutes later, we got niggas from the cut trying to make deals with the SRC."

Eli crossed his arms. "I don't understand how this has anything to do with me. I don't roll with the SRC and I haven't been cool with Eric since middle school."

"The nigga is one of those Bang Babies. Calls himself Holocaust. He's bad news Eli." lamented George.

"Again, not my problem," Eli said. "So just leave before-"

"Bitch you owe me!" George snapped. "So now you're gonna help! I need to get this shit to Madison without cops and you and your little Asian bitch are going to help!"

Eli gave Jade a small glance, seeing her disapproval of the label being put on her. He then looked at his irate friend and took in a deep breath. Nick and Ben both warned Eli that eventually he would cross paths with the Saints Row Children and that it would put him at odds with his childhood friend.

He honestly did not believe that it would happen so soon.

"I'm not going to help you George. And I really don't think it's a good idea to piss Jade off too. I honestly couldn't stop her if she tried to kill you." Eli said as calmly as possible. "So I'm going to ask-"

"Nigga, think! If it was as easy as just moving some coke from one guy to another, do you think I'd be here?" said George. "I think Holocaust is coming down here and I don't want to be the guy that fucking pisses him off."

"Why would he be pissed? Just give him the drugs and move on." Jade quipped.

"Because Eric's not giving him the drugs. Not all of it, is he?" Eli deduced. George shook his head and Eli sighed heavily. "Fuck George. Why in the hell are you even doing this again?"

"Because I took a bullet for your ass!" George said pointing directly in Eli's face. "So either man the fuck up or…"

Eli would never allow George to finish his statement, stepping directly in front of his friend. Maybe it was the warriors' philosophies that were clouding his mind from Nick's and Ben's teachings or the fact that George had interrupted _two_ peaceful days with Jade, but Eli was actually considering beating George at the moment. He wanted nothing to do with the Saints Row Children, a fact he has been reiterating since the sixth grade, and he was starting to lose his patience with one of the few friends he had within the gang.

"I'm going to be honest with you George, I'm not going to help you." Eli said. "So take this shit somewhere else."

George scoffed. "I see. Friendship ain't shit for the rich nigga from Mancastle."

"George, I am _really_ trying to let you walk out of here without getting punched in the face," Eli said. "Don't make me change my mind."

"Remember who stood up for you when your brother put you in shit. I-"

Eli roughly grabbed George by the other boy's collar, spinning around and pinning George against the door.

"It's your fault that Sam was in that shit to begin with!" Eli hissed. "So you're going to leave here and pretend that I don't have a legit reason to beat the shit out of your black ass from here to New York."

Jade now lifted her brows with amusement, watching the scene. She had suspected Eli's tolerance towards George was running at an all-time low; and that's just from a month of knowing the guy. There were times that she, and Ben, had noticed Eli's rising aggression during training but she had never figured out a reason behind it. Now, Jade was willing to bet hard-earned, well stolen, money that George and the SRC plays a significant role in the rise of Eli's anger and aggression.

Oh, and possibly his mom. Eli has voiced his annoyance about the woman as well.

Eli soon released George's collar. "Go."

"Whatever," George huffed as he reached for the doorknob. "Remember this Eli. You're going to need my help someday and-"

"I already needed your help." Eli interrupted. "You stuck with your brother and I stuck by mine."

Another tense silence came after that before George left, practically throwing the door in Eli's face before slamming it behind him. Eli fought urges to shoot his friend and simply made his way back to the couch to lie back down.

"You know," And like he thought, Jade would somehow say something to make this worse. "I never heard it before, but you do have a small Arabic accent whenever you're mad."

Eli glanced at Jade. "Don't do that."

"Do what?" she feigned innocence, giving him a positively evil smile.

"Compare me to my mom. We're nothing alike." Eli answered.

"Really? Because you kind of look like her." Jade continued her empty taunts. "Like right around the eye area, you look like her. You also have that high-and-mighty voice all the time like you're the last king of Khandaq."

"Khan-what?" Eli responded, sitting up.

"Khandaq. Great kingdom before it got split into Bialya, Qurac, Syria, and Turkey? Ever heard of it?" Jade asked.

Eli shook his head. "No. Where do they teach you that?"

"…" Jade sat quietly before waving him off. "I'm sure your mom knows. Ask her." Jade saw that Eli was not accepting the answer by a long shot and chose to change the subject. "Since we know that you are miles away from having sex with me, how about we go to Drayton Pier? Or we could find this Holocaust guy. Or both."

She avoided the question. Eli was sure that his face pointed that statement out but he would never say it aloud. Instead, he chose to focus on the two options she offered him. He was not so sure that Nick would be okay with him stealing the suit for a third time and asking was clearly out of the question. Eli admitted, stealing the suit was much more fun than actually gaining permission to use it. Yet, on a day like this, there was no need to be behind a mask, stalking the rooftops in search for a fight. He could enjoy it as he would have if his dad was alive and an attractive Vietnamese girl was asking him to the beach.

"Beach," Eli finally said. "If I suited up, I might just shoot George for the hell of it."

"Wrong choice." Jade said standing up, grabbing her drink and chips. "Come on, we're going to go find this Holocaust guy."

Eli refused to put up an argument due to fatigue but promised himself that this would be a reconnaissance mission if anything. He would simply just observe and then leave; nothing more, nothing less. The only way he would move to do anything was if George, Jade, or anyone who was actually innocent was in harm's way. And even then, he felt as if his help would be minimal at best.

"Fine," Eli said as Jade disappeared down the hall, moving towards the door. "Is there a reason behind this or are you just bored?"

"I got to hear about how the big bad Yellow Jacket beat the hell out of some guy and it got me kind of aroused." Eli blinked. He was unsure if she was telling the truth, teasing him, or both. "You go to wherever it is you keep it. Meet up in Madison in fifteen?"

"Where?" Eli questioned as he reluctantly got off of the couch.

"Your job?" Jade suggested which Eli responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "Good. Let's go watch George get killed for his brother's stupidity."

Eli smirked. "Are you really doing this just to see George suffer?"

"I'd watch them both suffer if I…" Jade's words died when she opened the door and saw Hannah about to knock. "Hi Anna."

" _Hannah_ ," The other girl in a white polka-dotted blue sundress corrected. "And it's good to see you too, Jade."

Jade gave Eli a smile over her shoulder. "See you in a few Eli. Don't keep me waiting…"

If Eli had one of those new tranquilizer darts on him, he would have flung one at Jade at this very moment. Hell, he would have thrown one at Hannah too to avoid the awkwardness that was about to come with Jade departing. However, as Jade stepped by Hannah with the fakest of smiles, Eli realized that his opportunity to knock them both out was now gone.

"I don't like her," Hannah said as she stepped inside. "Why do you keep hanging out with her?"

"What is it Hannah?" Eli asked. By now he had run out of liable reasons to hang around Jade, reasons that were acceptable to Hannah, that is.

Hannah gave Eli a look that told him that she was not amused by his change of conversation but quickly brushed it off.

"I came to hang out for a while but I see that that's not going to happen, is it?" Hannah said. It was clear as day that she was unhappy about Eli's friendship with Jade. "So where is she taking you? Some party on Saints Row?"

"No. They're not her biggest fans." said Eli. "But I guess that you actually agree with them about that, huh?"

"You're always with her, beating on yourself or letting her do it to you." Hannah commented. "I can see some of those bruises, you know? If she's doing this Eli, you need to leave her alone. She isn't worth it. No one is."

Eli stared at his ex in silence. He heard several voices of clear conscious in his mind telling him that Hannah was right. Jade was danger on two legs with an attractive face and a giggle she hates. Yet there was something more than the hell that the girl brought with her, a hell Eli had not actually witnessed personally. That "something more" was whatever it was buried beneath the girl's faux sweet smile and her attitude. Ben thought that Eli could, not only find a way to stop, but somehow befriend her along the way.

"If you're sleeping with her," Hannah said. "At least have the courtesy to tell me to my face."

Eli chuckled. "I'm in no hurry to do anything like that with Jade, Hannah. Not only do I think she'd kill me if I tried, but I'm actually talking to another girl. A redhead at that."

Amused, Hannah crossed her arms with a smile.

"Oh really? What's her name?" Hannah interrogated.

"Barbara Gordon, daughter of the GCPD commissioner." Eli answered. "We met at the fundraiser for Stagg Youth in Gotham City." Eli paused. "She's smart, a librarian even. Mallory thinks I need someone who could keep me grounded. She might be that person. Other than you, of course."

"Right, right," Hannah said. "Are you going to go down to Gotham and meet her? Is she visiting up here? Is she pretty?" Eli scoffed at the last question. "Of course she's pretty. You have a type, don't you? Shorter than you. Lean, neither too muscular nor too thin. Am I missing anything?"

"Fi…" Hannah was a little worried when Eli's word seemed to die in his throat before the boy began laughing. "Warriors. I have a type for warriors."

Hannah smiled. "Yeah, that might be it." Her smile slowly fades. "I guess I should let you get to Jade, huh? You can't really get into trouble here with boring little me, can you?"

"I could." His suggestion only gained him a pair of playfully rolling eyes. "But no, I need to meet up with Jade. Just in case."

"In case what?" Hannah asked.

"I…" Eli sighed heavily. "Jade and I went to Cam Beach a few weeks ago and when we returned, Eric sent George here to set me straight. Jade did some kung fu death grip move on George and now the SRC has it in for her. And I can't let that happen. Not after the whole shit with Sam. So I have to go."

"…"

Eli could see that his tale was working as Hannah was rocking on her toes as if she was really trying to dispute his words. However, Hannah was a lover, not a fighter. He knew that much about her. She would eventually allow him to go after Jade so long as she believed him. And judging by how she was struggling to find reason to argue, she was falling for the lie more and more as the seconds go by.

"Is that why I saw him pissed off earlier? Because you wouldn't let him have Jade?" Hannah asked.

Eli shook his head. "No. George came with a job for the SRC and I told him I wasn't interested. He saw Jade and thought about doing something and I kindly reminded him that I could kick his ass. So he left."

"Oh," said Hannah. "Fine, fine, go make sure she doesn't end up dead by those thugs. Seriously, do you have to be a hero now? You're normally such a selfish prick."

"You know I'm no hero Hannah. They don't last long in New Camford anyways."

Hannah smiled. "Not in body. But in spirit, they're here always. Just like your dad."

Eli nodded. "Yeah." The two stood silent for a minute before Eli shrugged his shoulders. "If you're free later, we could go to that café in Rhodes. The one with the poetry."

"I'd like that. And you can tell me more about this Barbara girl." Hannah said, turning to leave. "Eli, promise me that you won't let Jade turn you into someone you're not."

Eli wanted to just outright promise his ex but could not. He was changing daily though it was not just Jade's doings. Nick, Ben, even his father, they all had a hand in his metamorphosis. If anything, Jade was a physical representation of who he was. Whatever bullshit she told him to keep him away from the source of her anger was only equal to what he told her. Yet, whenever they were alone, Eli could hear cracks in her mask and spot whenever she revealed too much about herself unintentionally. In return, he either changed the subject or gave her a piece of useless information about himself.

He trained with Jade and knew she could kill him if she felt like it. Trust was a key survival tool during those moments with her.

"I promise Hannah. I'll call you later." Eli said to the exiting girl.

"I'll be waiting Eli."

Eli waited for Hannah to leave before heading for his bedroom. He thought about his childhood and what he would have done on a day like this. He would be headed to the park with George meeting him at the door. Hannah and her friends would watch the guys play on the blacktops while giggling amongst themselves.

Eli smiled. George would always tell Eli whenever a girl looked their way, always ready to play the wingman if needed. Rare occasions would Malcolm or some other father come to the court to challenge the younger guys, quoting how the older generation of players was better than all safe for a few like LeBron James or Steph Curry.

They would stay there until well after the street lights came on. From there, Eric and the SRC took over the area while anyone who wanted to keep their hands cleaned moved inside. Eli's smile died at the thoughts of how Leila would stare at the windows some nights and shake her head at the voices coming from outside. She would never let him look out the window at whatever was occurring in the streets outside of their apartment, but he eventually found out. They all found out. It was a part of growing up in Cheshire Square and, no matter how hard parents tried to keep their kids away from it, the knowledge hidden in the shadows were always told or shown.

Always.

* * *

Nightwing was not accustomed to just running around in broad daylight in suit. He was much more comfortable at night, in the shadows, away from any prying eyes. But there was something- more like _someone_ \- that drew his attention.

While walking along the shores of Cam Beach, Richard had overheard the conversation between two apparent off-duty cops who were speaking about lowering patrol around the Madison neighborhood as a deal was in place. Said deal had the prominent player known as Leonard Smalls, a.k.a. Holocaust. Nightwing had heard about Holocaust before and knew the destruction the guy could bring. And, without a solid lead on where Killer Moth had run off to, he had plenty of time to find out what Smalls could be doing in New Camford.

The deal was currently being done in the back parking lot of a church, away from the quiet streets. It was one of few spots where children were not present at though Richard didn't dwell more on that matter. HIs attention was solely on the large African-American with dreadlocks wearing what appeared to be a custom tailored blue suit.

"He cleans up good." Nightwing muttered, safely hidden on the church's roof.

"Well," A voice behind the teen nearly had him leaping off of the building. He turned to see the rumored Yellow Jacket along with the girl in green from last night. "He cleans up _well_."

Nightwing snorted. "What are you, the grammar police?" The pair neared the edge. "What are you two doing here? I thought you were after Bookworm?"

"Leonard Smalls Jr." Hornet spoke. "Also known as Holocaust. Chief member of Paris Island Bloods. He was one of those caught in the Big Bang." Nightwing saw the girl's green eyes narrow at that fact. "He's here doing business with a local black gang called the Saints Row Children."

"You brought them up last night. Are they dangerous?" asked Nightwing.

"Any idiot with a gun is dangerous," Yellow Jacket growled lowly. "They're a small problem. Holocaust, however, is a big one."

"You're not ready for a full out fight against him," The girl in green said to Yellow Jacket. "We'll have to play this smart."

Hornet looked at her. "This is strictly reconnaissance. If he's doing deals with the SRC, we'll hit them later."

Nightwing looked between the two newcomers. The sword-wielding girl was glaring at the scene in front of them though it was obvious she did not favor the sit-and-watch call that the self-proclaimed Hornet said. Even with the lower half of her face covered by the dark green mask she wore Richard could tell that her lips were probably in some sort of twist of disapproval.

"What should I call you?" Nightwing asked.

Hornet looked at his female companion, the two sharing a look that only they could read. Their silence, however, only lasted for all of thirty seconds before they turned their attention back to the deal being made below, an accord already struck between them. Nightwing glanced between the two to see if he could get a read but failed to. Of course, this was partly due to the girl having great concentration on the deal being made below them and the Yellow Jacket having a full mask that disguised his face entirely.

Meanwhile, on the hallowed ground of the church, one Leonard Smalls Jr. was not having a good day. The sun and weather were nothing to cheer him up. His business was, in a term, in the shits. Since the Big Bang in his hometown of Paradise Island, his gang, the Paris Island Bloods, have been struggling to get more drugs imported into their city. Their former suppliers were now unsure about doing business with a group of "freaks" while everyone else raised the charge just because of the mutated men, women, and children of Dakota City. So he went to New Camford.

He hated the place already. Dakota City was real. It showed real people suffering real life and taking things necessary to live, or die refusing to do so. But here in New Camford, the sun seemed to shine just a bit brighter. He hated that.

"They're running late," Next to the young man was a bigger and taller meta-human known as Tarmack. Leonard looked at his longtime friend and continued. "I hate that."

"Maybe they got lost?" Leonard ignored his dimwitted friend now. Apparently, being transformed into a six-foot eight-inch body of tarmac did very little for Charles but Leonard did not need him for his brains.

It was his ability to take punches that Holocaust needed Tarmack for.

Thankfully, before Leonard could lose his metaphorical cool and Tarmack said anything dumber, an orange Chevrolet Impala pulled into the parking lot. When the vehicle stopped, four teens got of the vehicle, one carrying a black duffle bag.

"I guess it is true," Holocaust said to his friend. "There's always one Latino with a group of niggas." George approached the physically larger pair, looking over his shoulders. "You don't look like Eric Lincoln."

"I'm his brother, George. You got the dough?"

Holocaust snickered. "You hear this Mack? This guy thinks he's some tough shit because he's got some blow." The meta's smile disappeared, his eyes turning into a fiery orange as smoke streamed from his snarling lips. "But you see, George, I'm not in any mood to do business with a gopher. So go find your brother and tell him that when I say be there, he gets his ass down here or else I'll blow that shithole you call Cheshire Square off the fucking map!"

From his position, Eli could see George flinch and for good reason. Holocaust did not strike any of them as someone to be made a fool of. From what Nick pulled up prior to Eli leaving earlier, the Yellow Jacket knew that he was under-gunned for an all out fight. From Nick's description, only a well-timed bullet from a high caliber gun could do the trick- if that. And that was not enough to even attempt a blitz on Holocaust, let alone Holocaust and a meta-human Eli knew nothing about.

"Eric has business uptown, so he sent me." George said. "He said that it was just an easy job so-"

"He thinks _I'm_ an easy job? Does this nigga know who I am?" Leonard asked.

"Yeah, he does," answered George. "It's just with shit coming around with all these damned vigilantes and those goddamned Russians, he had a more, uh, pressing matter at hand." It was at that moment that another black SUV pulled into the parking lot. "What the hell is going on?"

Jade and Eli exchanged glances, knowing that this entire ordeal was seconds away from going from bad to hell. The pair and Nightwing waited patiently as the passenger door opened, a short Caucasian man with slicked back blond hair, eyes behind a pair of dark shades.

"Who the hell are you?" George asked the man in the white suit.

"My name ain't important," The guy's Jersey accent was thick, clearly heard by everyone who heard. "I kinda work for a little guy you may or may not know. Mr. Whale?"

Nightwing heard a growl come from the Yellow Jacket, something the girl in green picked up as well.

Holocaust crossed his arms. "Why does Whale want to talk to me? Or is he still collecting small shitty gangs like this saints children shit?"

"Saints Row Children, dumbass." One of the guys with George said. "You niggas from Dakota think that since Cleveland finally won something, you're all top shit. You ain't-"

Before the teen could finish, he was knocked off his feet by a bright fireball. George flinched as he saw one of his brother's "employees" rolling on the ground, being burned alive in front of him. He slowly turned his attention to see that the newcomer in white was actually grinning.

On the roof, Nightwing found Hornet's strong grip on his left wrist, keeping him from going down there. Nightwing looked at the hooded gunman who merely just shook his head.

"Now," The man in white said. "Here's the small problem. Mr. Whale believes that he owns New Camford- or most of it anyway. The Irish, the Aryans, the Greek, even these bozos. So if you want to start a trade between that hellhole town back in Ohio and the New Ivy Metro, you kinda gotta talk to the big guy first, got it?"

"Bullshit! We were here first. So get the fuck…" George's words slowly came to an end when Holocaust raised a hand.

"Why is Mr. Whale here in New Camford?" Holocaust asked.

"Mr. Whale is leaving Metropolis. That ain't a secret, is it?" The man in the white suit said. "New Camford has, what did he call it? Potential! Yeah, see, potential is all over this hero-less shithole. You can move things quietly and, with Senator Pullman's cooperation, you could push an underage Asian prostitute strapped with three bombs and a kilo through the streets during broad daylight without any cop or caper to stop ya. So what's it gonna be? We in business or what?"

Nightwing watched the intense silence. New Camford was definitely similar to Bludhaven with constant battling for the top of the food chain. But this was something big. This was one of the top dogs from Metropolis meeting one of the crime lords from Dakota City with New Camford in both of their crosshairs. On one hand was the leader of the Paris Island Bloods, Holocaust, and on the other, the leader of the 100, Tobias Whale.

"This is going to be hell," Jade said to Eli quietly. "That 'small problem' called the SRC just got bigger."

Nightwing caught the publicly acclaimed Yellow Jacket pull the hood up over his mask, shadowing his masked face from view.

"I figured you'd be scared by that." Nightwing heard the male say.

He glanced to see that the female was currently watching below.

"Alright then."

Nightwing realized that the pair had their own secret language, one that would take him weeks to decipher. He chose to ignore it and focus on the deal going on below, trying to piece everything together. Tobias Whale was attempting to own New Camford's underground. Holocaust was looking to extend his reach out of Dakota City.

"So we gotta deal or not? Mr. Whale ain't gonna wait all day for an answer." The man in white said. "Apparently he's got another buyer from Dakota that might want to partner up. Some scrub named Tech-9."

"No!" Holocaust roared, flames forming around his fists and burning parts of his suit. The large African-American took in a deep breath and calmed down. "No, we're do this. But I get to meet Tobias Whale tomorrow before I leave." Holocaust then looked at George. "And Eric better be there too."

"We'll be there."

Nightwing wanted to move again, but another hard grip on his wrist stopped him, again. This time he ripped his hand away from Hornet as the trio backed away from the edge of the building.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nightwing whispered harshly. "We can stop this!"

"No, we can't," The computerized voice replied just as quietly. "We stop them now, Whale gets away. Tomorrow, Whale has to show up for their meeting. My guess is that he'll be in Venice Terrace."

"So you're saying…" Nightwing began.

"Whale. Holocaust. Both of them will be at one place at the same time tomorrow. You can stop them." Hornet said. "We have other things to take care of."

"You expect me to deal with all of them at once? By myself?" Nightwing returned.

"I asked if you could fight. You said yes." Hornet's response was just as dry as the voice changer he was using. It made Richard believe that he was speaking with a younger, more annoying Batman.

"Right. And I'm assuming that you two could take them out?" Nightwing sardonically spoke.

The girl scoffed. "Of course we could."

With that, the two left, leaving Nightwing on the roof. Despite himself, Richard grinned. He knew that there was something about the pair that was really familiar. They reminded him of himself and Batgirl; with swords and guns of course. The humor that he had was lost and he doubts that either was as smart as Barbara, but they were a team like he and his redhead friend in Gotham.

After all, even without challenging them he could tell that they were an arduous team to defeat.

"Alright," Nightwing said as he eyed the Impala. "Let's catch the little fish first."

* * *

Eric Lincoln was not a big man in the least. The twenty-three year old stood at five feet, six inches and weighed in approximately one hundred and thirty pounds. Unlike his younger brother, the dark-skinned African-American kept his hair head completely bald with a thick wooly beard. He had a terribly drawn tattoo of a dragon on his left shoulder as well as a cross on his right shoulder, both given to him by a friend.

Like any other summer day, the man could be found shirtless walking down the street, four of his "friends" walking behind him.

"George fucked up our deal with Smalls." Eric stated to his group, one of which was lighting a marijuana cigarette. "Now we got these niggas running in and out our turf, acting as if they run this shit. I should kick his ass for this shit man!"

It had been ten minutes since Eric had last spoken to his younger brother. Needless to say, Eric was enraged when George revealed to him Tobias Whale's plans of buying the SRC and taking over their deal with Holocaust in Dakota City. It pissed Eric off to no limits as he thought of his _family_ being bought by some outsider from Metropolis.

Glancing up ahead, he saw a familiar face in one Hannah Souza. The girl was talking to some friends on the sidewalk, wearing a blue sundress that revealed her practically flawless legs to anyone who had working eyes. George was always claiming how prudish the Latina could be but Eric knew differently. They girl slept with Eli, a boy Eric had known for most of his life. She could not be that stuck-up.

"Well, well, well," Eric said as he approached the three girls. "If it isn't Hannah…"

Hannah scoffed. "What do you want Eric?"

"Nothin' much. Just trying to see what you feel like getting into tonight." Eric said.

"Nothing with you." Hannah shot back.

"You don't know that yet." stated Eric as he took a step closer to the thin girl. "See, I'm not my brother. I don't scare easily. And I-"

"Oh shit!"

Eric turned in time to see his group fighting with a yellow-wearing hooded vigilante. He was actually stunned at the fact that any vigilante would show up in Cheshire Square, let alone in broad daylight. Worse, he was doing so with relative ease and that was something Eric was not okay with.

Hornet was able to sidestep one thug before flicking his wrist, a dart of some sort hitting another one in his shoulder. Eric watched as the hit man grabbed his arm before falling to the ground; though paralyzed or unconscious, Eric could not tell.

A third thug was able to hit this wannabe hero which caused Eric to smirk. His smirk lasted for all of two seconds with the masked being returned the punch with enough force to knock the rather large man flat on his back.

Now the vigilante in yellow was between the first thug who had missed his original punch and the last remaining fourth one. Eric practically gritting his teeth with impatience, wanting his men to take out whoever was foolish enough to attack him in the middle of the day. However, when the hooded guy quickly pulled out two pistols, pointing them at each of the remaining men, Eric knew that they would most likely fail him.

"Run," was the cold command from vigilante. "Or else."

Unsurprisingly, the two ran off at high speed, one going right by Eric. Eric grunted, reaching for his gun, only for a cold blade to appear beneath his chin. On first notice, Eric thought it was just a large knife. However, when he glanced downwards, he saw a sword being carefully held beneath his chin. His brown eyes then looked ahead to see that the vigilante was moving to him, removing the hood off of his head.

"Do you know who I am?" Eric growled. "I'll have your punk ass killed for this!"

"Eric Lincoln. New leader of the Saints Row Children," The voice was deep and somewhat distorted, but Eric assumed that a male was beneath the mask. "Here's my only warning: Stay away from Leonard Smalls and Tobias Whale or I'll finish this."

"Finish what?" Eric asked before a fist knocked him onto the ground. While he was highly dizzy from said punch, he could recognize the familiar cold metal of a pair of brass knuckles when he was hit.

"That."

Eric looked up in time to see that the yellow masked gunman and some ninja in green drop a flash bomb that forced a startled scream from the girls still outside. When Eric's vision returned, the two were gone.

Spitting a glob of blood on the sidewalk, Eric stood up on wobbling legs.

"Fucking bitch," Eric said to no one in particular. "You hear me?! When I find your ass, you're mine!"

Hannah also regained her vision and began to look around for the two that appeared out of nowhere, pulled one over the SRC, and then vanished. She scanned the rooftops and the streets equally, trying to find them. She had not seen a vigilante- hero or villain- in Cheshire Square, only hearing about their deaths on the news. It was invigorating and terrifying at the same time.

Her mind then chimed in on one key detail that Eric could not have noticed. The person with the sword, based on its figure, was female. Hannah knew a few girls with long black hair but only a few of them fit the build of the ninja in green. One that did, however, was Eli's new friend Jade.

One boy. One girl. Both with some crazy form of fighting.

Hannah got off of the porch and quickly began to jog towards Eli's apartment. Admittedly, she was not in the best shape, preferring to stay indoors on a computer than outside and actually exercising. But she knew that there was no way that Eli, if this was Eli, could get back and change before she got to his apartment door. She also notes that in this weather, he should be sweating wearing a mask _and_ a sports jacket while doing what he did. He could hide the suit. But the sweat and exhaustion?

"Excuse me!" Hannah said as she runs by two girls playing hopscotch on the sidewalk.

She continued her stride until she finally reached the building. Heading inside, Hannah made a beeline up the steps. Her stamina was slowly being drained but her curiosity kept her moving forward. Malcolm Jackson was a vigilante. He protected the streets with his last breath. And now Eli had somehow taken up the reigns and continued his father's legacy. Now, Hannah's best friend and ex-boyfriend was the new hero of Cheshire Square.

"Eli!" Hannah called out as she banged on the door. "Eli! I know… Oh…" Eli opened the door, now in white t-shirt and jean shorts, staring at her with a worried look. "You… Changed…"

Eli frowned. "From this morning? Yes."

"I…"  
"Hannah, what's wrong?" asked Eli.

"I saw him." Eli's brows creased further. "The Yellow Jacket! You know, the guy from the news?"

"The new weirdo out there beating people? Yeah, I heard about him. He's the only thing my mom and I agree on," Eli said. "He's no good, just like every hero in New Camford." Eli then narrowed his eyes. "And I thought that he was in Rhodes?"

"No! He was here!" exclaimed Hannah as she pushed her way inside, seeing the living room as clean as it was earlier. "He beat Eric and everything!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. He beat _Eric_?" interrogated Eli.

"Yes!" Hannah threw her hands up with a breath, falling backwards on the couch with a smile. "You should have seen it! He was… I don't know. It was more exhilarating than anything that I've ever seen!"

Hannah saw Eli, cool and dry, stare at her as if she had two heads. He slowly closed the door as if her excitement startled him- which it did- before he approached the couch and sat next to her. She gave him a thorough look over and realized that he appeared to be well rested. There was no way that he could have been the Yellow Jacket, she deducted.

"So… Is he tall?" Eli asked.

"No. He's probably your height. Maybe taller?" Hannah recounted. "And he took out two guys easily before getting two more to run away. Then he knocked Eric out with one punch!"

Hannah read Eli's skeptical look and sighed heavily. Not only was he not this new Yellow Jacket, but he was also either unimpressed or did not believe her altogether. Honestly she hoped for the former and not the latter. Hannah was not big on lying, especially not to Eli.

"You don't believe me, do you?" she asked.

"I do. I just-"

"No you don't. I can tell you're lying Eli." Hannah shot his attempt down with a short burst of exasperation. "I just wish you were there, if you would have _seen_ it. It was… I don't know." Hannah shifted in her seat uncomfortably, avoiding Eli's gaze. "It kind of made me wish it was you."

"Why?" Even without seeing his distorted face, there was a certain amount of disgust that was heard in his voice and she knew that the mere idea of him becoming a vigilante was repulsive to him.

"Because…!" Hannah began. "I don't know. Your dad did it, right? He had his reasons. I just thought that you'd find reasons as well and, you know. Be like him."

Hannah turned her eyes to see Eli giving her a harden glare, one she had seen before. It normally signaled that he was not budging on whatever they were arguing about but on occasion, such as this one, it meant that he had heard something that was probably best not said in his presence. She knew that he despised hooded vigilantes, his father being the only exception to that rule. It made Hannah feel foolish that she even thought that Eli could have been the Yellow Jacket now.

"If I ever feel the need to do something about this hellhole," Eli spoke. "I won't hide behind a mask, Hannah. I'll defend my family, honor, or town to my dying breath _without_ a mask because that's what my dad taught me. To be a soldier, not a goddamn vigilante." Eli snorted angrily. "The hell was he thinking anyway…?"

"I'm sorry for bringing that up." Hannah whispered apologetically.

The male calmed down progressively. "Don't worry about it." He then leaned back against the couch. "Jade is at home. We can actually talk if you want. I don't want you out there with some hooded asshole with guns."

Hannah frowned. "I never said he had guns…"

"But the news reporter last night did." Eli pointed out. Hannah huffed, knowing he was right. "What is it Hannah?"

"Are you sure you're not him? I mean, I thought… And with that new fighting you're learning…" Hannah responded.

"I'm not even that good at whatever the hell Ben is teaching me. That's why I keep Jade around because she is." Eli joked. "Besides, you know me Hannah. I don't have the care to go out there and fight for justice or whatever shit those guys tell themselves. I just care about what happens in my life."

Of course, Hannah thought. Eli had not always been selfish though it was a trait that grew on him over the years. It got worst when Malcolm died. He was now reclusive and selfish, distant from those who he once called good friends such as Hannah and George.

Still, Hannah smiled. If there was a lesson that she gained after moving to New Camford from New York was that there was a positive side to everything and she chose to focus on that. Reclusive or not, Eli still found time to talk to her just like now.

"So," Hannah said with a smile. "Spill. Who is Barbara Gordon?"

Eli jokingly rolled his eyes. "Always the reporter with you, huh? Is this going on your blog?"

"Nope. I have another man for my blog." Eli's brows rose towards his hairline in question. "I think that New Camford has a new bachelor… And he's yellow…"

Eli laughed. "Oh really?"

"Yep!"

While Hannah pushed thoughts of Eli being the Yellow Jacket to the far depths of her mind, Eli let the relief flow through his body as he had successful avoided the questioning from the highly perceptive Hannah Souza. He assumed Jade went back to torture- or even kill- Eric and Ben had given him the night off, giving Eli sufficient time to return the suit back to Nick's and get to his mother's at a decent time.

For once, the city of New Camford was not painted with an overcompensation of happiness to hide the true scourge and scum that was the criminals of this city. It was painted in a new shade of yellow and black. A few shades of blue and a silent hue of green as well. But most definitely black and yellow.

Oh, and a smidge of Gotham red as well.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Thank you for reading the latest chapter of Eli's tale. As mentioned earlier, there will be a shift in my writing schedule. Arkham Rising will be on hiatus until the end of September/early October. This story and Sora's Gaiden will be monthly updated.

But onto the chapter and story, there will be a flashback retelling Eli's first night and how he obtained the Hornet suit from Nick. More Barbara and Eli in the upcoming chapter(s). A trip to Dakota City as well as Nightwing's tour of Gotham are all coming up soon. Also, Jade's father revelation, a few fights with the SRC, battling with Killer Moth and Bookworm, and a few battles with the NCPD all coming soon in the Markings of a Hero. But as always, if you have any questions, thoughts, or comments then leave a review or PM and I'll respond as soon as next time.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Warnings:** The following chapter is rated T for Teen for violence and swearing.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Ten: Humble Thyself

Leila was not comfortable with Eli running in and out of her home at odd hours. She had expressed it many times before and the teen knew that his mom would do it many times more. However, Eli could not help but smirk at her irritation behind closed doors, feeling pleased to know that he got under her skin as this entire ordeal did his.

Entering the kitchen at eight o'clock in the morning, the already fully dressed Eli acknowledged his mother at the stove with a simple "Morning" beneath his breath as he made a reach for the cereal box atop of the refrigerator.

"I'm making breakfast." Leila said as she watched Eli prepare a bowl of cereal.

Eli paused and then sat the box aside with a sigh. He walked to the table and sat down, his brown eyes never leaving his mother's figure.

"Is there a reason for this?" he asked.

"There was once a time when you'd try to help me." Leila replied, ignoring his question altogether. "I thought you'd at least set the table."

"Mama, I-"

"You're having breakfast with us, Elias. So set the table." It was not a suggestion or a recalling of the past. It was a demand. With an aggravated sigh, the boy stood up. "Robert says that you were up late on the phone. Does a certain redhead have anything to do with that?"

Eli snorted. "This entire breakfast is just a way to interrogate me? For what? Some sort of deposition or something?"

"No, nothing like that," Leila was actually giggling at his response, something Eli did not miss. "You just seem more upbeat. Not to mention that Carla says that you were visiting Gotham soon. I just put two and two together."

"Mama," Eli said as he grabbed four plates. "I don't want you following me to Gotham to meet Barbara. Her dad's the freaking commissioner. Not to mention that Mal is all over this. So I would actually appreciate it if you didn't add to that."

Leila gave Eli an entertained glance. "You would appreciate it? Normally you just tell me to butt out of it."

"Nick told me to be more respectful or he'd sell the Jeep." Eli covered up as he walked back towards the table.

"You know, I would like it if you didn't tell me lies this early in the morning Elias." Eli turned to see Leila giving him a familiar stare. Instantly, every cover story that he had been working on for the last few weeks was thrown away in the mental trashcan in his head. "So which would you like to be honest about? Your date with the redhead or whatever leverage Nick has on you?"

Eli remained quiet. Obviously, he was going to have to tell the truth about Barbara. There was no way he was really going to tell her about his deal with Nick, or at least not until he finished his search. He would find out what his dad saw in the hero business and finish Bookworm's freedom.

"Mama," Eli began. "Barbara and I are meeting up to go to wherever she wants. I'll be spending time at Aunt Carla's. I'm sure that half of the freaking GCPD will be tailgating us _and_ Mal. Is there anything else that you want to know?"

Leila gave Eli a glance. "Yes. You've had ten, fifteen minutes with this girl. Are you trying to take advantage of the fact that Jade can't find her?"

"Jade is just a friend. Nothing more." Eli stated. "Besides, you're making it seem like I'm planning on marrying Barbara- and I'm not."

"I don't know why," Leila said with a shrug. "I met your father at seventeen. It is a good age to start thinking about the future, Elias."

"You obviously didn't think about divorce…"

"Because no one does," By now, Leila's casual tone had become much more serious, a tone that Eli was more than familiar with. "Is it so hard for you to sit down and talk to your own mother about your future instead of running off to tell Nick?"

"No. It's just easier to talk to someone who isn't trying to make up for past mistakes." Eli countered.

Leila took in a deep breath. "Elias, I am not apologizing for things you cannot understand. I tried to spend as much time with you as possible and all you can sit and think about is that I remarried another man. Your father was ill and I knew that if I took you away from him, whatever remained of his humanity would leave as well. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"He was crazy. Nick says it all the time." droned the teen. "Doesn't mean that either of you were right."

"And what do you know, huh?" By now, Leila had turned her entire body to face Eli. "You were too busy running out to party with George to even realize that the man living with you was a secret vigilante being shot at so that you can walk the streets without being approached by the SRC. You tend to blame everyone else for the simple fact that you were ignoring your father while he was alive." Leila gave Eli a firm point. "You don't get to treat him differently because of his death, Elias. I've had more conversations with Miles than you have in the past year, so don't act like I didn't care. Between the two of us, I knew who he was then, and I know who he is now. Get your head out of your ass Elias. Now."

Today had to be a bad day for Leila, Eli thought. Not only did she use profanity at him where Sam could hear, but her accent had become undeniably thicker and certain words came out quite hard to decipher. Her "th" sounded like a solid "d" making her "than" sound like "Dan" but Eli managed. Not because he had to, he assumed now would be a good time to just walk away. No, he managed because he could clearly tell that something was not right with his mother today.

"Are you alright?" Eli questioned.

"No, I am not alright. I…" Eli blinked when a slur of Arabic words, which he assumed was her native Bialyan tongue, followed. He had never seen his mother this distressed before, not even when his father had died.

"Mama," Eli stopped the woman's rant. "I can't understand that."

Leila sighed heavily. "I know." Eli grunted at her simplified answer, as if he was too uneducated to know or learn what she had said. "Tomorrow will be our anniversary, your father and mine. He calls on that day every year. And now…"

She wouldn't cry, Eli told himself. Leila Rassan shed tears for very few moments and none of those moments happened outside the comfort of her bedroom. But Eli also knew that no one, his mother or any other strong being, could handle the world on their own.

Leila was shock when Eli approached her and hugged her. This hug was not as awkward as the one on the Fourth of July, but one that the younger Eli gave all the time. Without much thought, she returned the sentiment.

"I'll call Mama." Eli promised.

"You are not your father Elias. You don't have to replace him." Leila returned quietly.

"I know," Eli told her. "But I want to. For you."

It was not designed by plan, but Eli realized that he had somehow gotten Leila off his back about his promise with Nick _and_ Barbara. Unfortunately, he realized that this was not a ploy on either side. He wanted to call Leila tomorrow and he wanted her to answer. For the most part, he faulted his mother for most of the crap that happened in his life. Yet, that did not mean that he absolutely hated her. She had lost someone she loved, just like he did, and now all that they had of the guy were each other and a few miscellaneous trinkets.

"Oh," The voice of Robert caused the two to slowly separate. "Was I interrupting something?"

"No, not at all," Leila responded softly. "We were just making breakfast."

Robert grinned. "Breakfast does sound good." The man then turned his attention to the quiet Eli who resumed setting the table. "I hear that the new guy made an appearance in Cheshire Square yesterday. What do they call him? The Yellow Jacket?"

"Hannah said she saw him," Eli answered without looking at Robert. "I was on the phone with Barbara at the time."

"Oh really?" said Robert with amusement. "What did Hannah say?"

Eli shrugged. "Wasn't really paying attention. Something about blogging about him. Nothing really important."

"Well," Robert said. "A patient was administered to Zane Memorial yesterday, Randall Andersen. He was in rough shape, beaten pretty badly. A friend of mine said that this Yellow Jacket is a lot more aggressive than the other heroes of this city."

"My dad was once one of those so-called 'heroes' and he died," Eli sharply replied, glaring at Robert. "So if you don't mind, drop the topic. I don't want to hear about another person who'll die in costume. I'm sick of listening to it."

The kitchen grew quiet, Robert looking at his wife for any help. Leila remained silent though as Eli finished his duty.

"Eli," Robert calmly said. "I'm sorry. I should've known and-"

"Don't worry about it." Eli cut off. "Just stop trying to make me feel better about what my dad did. You of all don't need to get involved in that."

It was left at that with neither Leila nor Robert responding to the statement. Eli tried his best not to make any sound of his relief of that fact. Once more, he found that lying his way out of a situation, even if that meant making a scene like this, was a useful tactic to use. Robert was backing off and Leila had resumed their meal. Neither was pushing or nagging about Eli's private life outside of the house, which was good.

But it was also bad. He did not want Leila to think that this was all an act, if she caught on that is. He truly meant that he would call tomorrow and that he wanted her to answer. There was not a lot of thought about what he would say or how she would respond but as long as he called and she answered, everything would be alright.

He was not Malcolm Jackson. He was not the Army Ant. He was Elias Jackson. He was the Hornet. And he was determined to make sure that Leila and everyone else knew the difference.

* * *

Nick was not surprised when he found Eli at the hideout beneath his shed an hour earlier than planned. The man watched as Eli sat at the table, skillfully toying with a quarter with his left hand while reading a file lying on the table in front of him. Nick shook his head and he approached the teen.

"You're relentless kid, I'll give you that." Nick told him. "Who're you reading up on?"

"Robert Pullman." Eli answered.

Nick sighed. "Kid, I don't know what your obsession with the guy is, but he's as clean as any politician in America. That ain't saying much, but he shouldn't hold your attention like this."

Eli looked up at the man with a leveled stare.

"I think he's going to die soon." Nick's brows rose, the man taking a seat at the table. "I think he's Jade's real dad and she's out to get him. With this thing going down between Holocaust and Whale, I don't have time to truly investigate the guy. But I found out that he was in Vietnam around the time of Jade's conception. I just need to find out if the guy ever met her mom."

"Kid, let me tell you something," Nick began. "I can't tell you the names of the women who I was with in Qurac. Do you know why?"

"Because you felt guilty for cheating on your wife?" was the sardonic response of the teenager.

"There's an envelope somewhere in my bedroom with my son's paternity test in it left unopened. How's that for guilty?" Eli knew what Nick was implying about his late wife and chose not to even divulge into the topic. "Plus, are you really one to talk about fidelity? You're stringing your ex around, you have a thing for your so-called training partner, and you searched up the commissioner's daughter the second you got back from Gotham."

"Three problems with that Hickman," Eli commented, now resuming his reading. "I'm not stringing Hannah along, I don't have a 'thing' for Jade, and I searched up Barbara out of curiosity."

Nick said nothing. There was quite a change in Eli's personality in a rather short matter of time. The boy was a lot more punctual about certain things such as studying up on criminals and training. Eli also seemed to have gained the ability to instinctively throw out some jab about Nick's personal life without stopping what he was doing.

Eli glanced up to see Nick with a small grin.

"Something funny?" Eli asked.

"Nothing kid, just trying to figure out if you're more like your old man or Trent." Nick responded. "No offense to your dad, but the sidekick was obviously the brains to Miles's brawns. Book smarts that is. Your dad may have skipped a few science classes but he was a tactical son of a bitch."

Eli gave a solid nod and went back to reading the paper. Nick looked to see that the quarter Eli had in his hand was currently missing. The man snorted at the fact that, even while studying, the boy was still committed to learning and improving his skills of stage magic.

"This guy is a fucking ghost." Eli released with anger, sliding back in his chair. "It's like he landed in Vietnam, vanished, and then showed up to go home. There're no pictures of him out or around any town or anything."

"Calm down kid. You're thinking like your dad would. Obvious spots." Nick shot back. "You're not the Arm Ant. You're a detective with no badge. Now do what you're meant to before I remember that you weren't supposed to take that suit anyway. It's only a prototype."

Eli smirked as he read over the papers again. The Hornet suit, or the Yellow Jacket costume as it is referred to by the media, was supposed to be Trent's before the teen died. Of course, the final suit was supposed to be red and black, not yellow and black, and it was supposed to have some sort of dragon like emblem on it, not a freaking bug. Eli did not want to mess with his father's suit or Trent's original costume so he "borrowed" the only remaining thing there.

It was just sheer dumb luck that the gauntlets Nick had ordered also came in yellow.

"Why not just ask your 'partner' who her dad is? Wouldn't that be easier?" questioned Nick.

"Because this is her version of foreplay." Nick coughed lightly over the thought, Eli looking at the man with a fixed stare. "I know what you're thinking and I'm not having sex with her. Especially when everyone thinks I'm going to magically screw something up with Barbara before I even get the chance."

"Did she put it in those words?" A single nod from Eli had Nick chuckling. "Kid, what in the hell have you gotten yourself into?" Eli went to answer, only for Nick to stop him with a raised hand. "The less I know, the better. I thought I told you to give me the need-to-know basis? This Jade chick isn't going to blow up downtown, is she?"

Eli snorted. "She can do a lot more with a sword and a bottle of Pepsi than a bomb can."

"What woman couldn't?" Nick joked. "Still, your side mission with her is your own problem."

Eli had heard something similar to that before, just from Ben. Ben also wanted little to do with Eli discovering who Jade's father is and the inevitable battle between the two. It made Eli question if this was all worth it or not but he chose to continue. Not because he wanted to, but because Ben had made Eli promise that he would.

A quiet beeping pattern came from the large computer, one that Eli has learned was an S.O.S through Morse coding. Nick stood up and checked to see what the emergency was as Eli resumed with making the quarter disappear and reappear in the palm of his left hand.

"Shit," Nick curse reached Eli's ears. "You said you ran into that Nightwing character, right?"

Eli was not appealed by Nick's words in the least. The teenager stood up from his seat and walked over to see whatever it was on the computer screen that held Nick's attention.

Upon seeing the news bulletin, Eli's face soured. While he knew that the Whale and Holocaust meeting would take place at sometime during the day, he was not at all too concerned about it. His true intentions lied with Jade's for the moment; Robert Pullman. Sure, if he could stop Tobias Whale or Holocaust then he would, but he was not going out of his way to do so.

Now he was staring at a report that Nightwing had engaged several "alleged associates" of the Mozgov Family at a local restaurant. If the news reporters present were not filming this then maybe, Eli figured, this would be a bit better. Instead, the Mozgov Family was now publicly startled, and with them, the rest of New Camford.

"Damn him," muttered Eli.

"Problem?" Nick asked as Eli headed for his suit.

"You have people watching over the city right? Other so-called vigilantes?" Eli returned. "I need to know where an SUV is. Black. Chevy. Ohio license plates."

Nick was quick to type the information in. "Any particular reasons?"

"Last night, I figured out that if Whale and Smalls were going to do a meeting in broad daylight with Eric, it would have to be somewhere that they could." Eli began his explanation while packing his suit and weapons into a duffle bag. "Eric can't be seen many places. Not as the leader of the SRC. Other gangs would find him and blow his head off if they knew he was on their turf."

"Uh-huh…" responded Nick.

"Pullman wouldn't have it in Venice Terrace. That's Mozgov turf." Eli continued. "So that leaves Downtown NC for their meeting. I guessed that they would meet in Rhodes, maybe even Cheshire Square." Eli then pointed to the screen. "But that dumbass is fighting in Venice Terrace and probably pissing Smalls off."

"And we can't have that, can we?" questioned an amused Nick.

Eli zipped the bag up. "Jade wants Pullman. I want Whale and the Mozgovs. This Nightwing guy is ruining both plans." Eli turned his attention to the Army Ant suit behind the glass. "My dad did things like a hero, Nick. He found the bad guys and he put them away, those he could. I'm not him." Eli then glanced at Nick. "For the most, I'm going to put these bastards in the ground."

"You're not a murderer, kid." Nick told him. "Not yet anyways…"

"Why? Because the guys I killed were rapists?" Nick fell quiet as Eli hoisted the bag over a shoulder. "You told me to be what my father was- some mask wearing protector of this city. But we both know that that's not going to be enough. Not for New Camford."

"So what? You're just going to go out there and shoot them?" questioned Nick.

"I'm not going to do anything." Eli said walking to the ladder. "That Bialyan guy with the guns however… He's going to go make sure that some Gothamite doesn't fuck his city up. Might even find Bookworm."

Nick snorted. "Cocky son of a bitch, aren't you?"

"Have you met Leila Nolan?" Nick laughed as the boy left the hideout. The aged veteran turned to the computer screen with a sigh.

"Go get 'em kid."

* * *

Nightwing was not a stupid person. He was rash at times, but he was not stupid. So when he raided into a high-end Greek-themed restaurant to defeat a few Russian mobsters, he had already prepared himself for the guns and size of goons that were protecting whoever was in charge.

But what he failed to think about, or even consider, was the fact that the Italian Sullivan Family from Gotham would be present as well. The numbers went from five goons to fifteen in a matter of seconds and now Richard was thinking that maybe Alfred was right.

Birds normally did not look before they leaped because they could fly.

Richard shook his head at the thought. In all honesty, Alfred was filled with analogies; both good and bad. The fact that the old Englishman had compared Richard to a bird was both unoriginal and overused. However, the fact that the boy still had a knack for just jumping into danger- both literally and figuratively- made the analogy worth remembering.

"Come on out. We know you're there!"

Nightwing groaned at the voice. Like a bird unafraid to leap because it knew it could fly, Nightwing had failed to think up a landing strategy, or as it is most commonly referred to, a solid plan C for when plans A and B failed. That was because this was supposed to be easy: Go in, catch the Mozgov's by surprise, and get out. Simple. But the Sullivan's added an element that the recent solo vigilante had not accounted for.

So now, here he was, hiding behind an overturned table with several plans running through his mind. A smoke bomb was both ideal and idiotic. It worked well on those ninja movies that he saw, but in truth, a gunman did not have to see you to shoot you. That was real life 101. Any moron with a firearm could do the Call of Duty "spray and pray" strategy into smoke and eventually hit something or someone. With seven gunmen trained on his location, he was certain that _one of them_ could hit him.

And Nightwing was not trying to be shot today.

His next plan of action was to find a way to disarm the seven guys that were waiting for him to poke his head out. This plan had its pros because the gunmen would no longer be holding the guns. The con came with the fact that Nightwing doubted that he was fast enough to throw his unnamed shuriken- he refused to call them Batarangs- at all of them to disarm them before one of these trigger happy goons blasted him.

He paused in his thoughts. Why haven't they just shot through the turned round table that he was using as a shield? Surely they could but they haven't. Not yet anyways.

"I'm going to count to three."

Of course, Richard thought with a lazy eye-roll. The old "count to three" bit. He did not know how many guys attempted this back in Gotham on Batman and ended up wishing that they had just shot at two. No one got to three on Batman. No one.

But he was not Batman; he was Nightwing. And that meant that this guy could reach to three and then what? Richard had to have an escape plan without picking up the discarded rifle next to him.

"One…"

Nightwing grabbed a handful of smoke pellets. It was going to be a long day, he assumed.

"Two…"

The young teen prepared himself. He was confident that he would live this albeit how he does it. He was only worried about the long lecture he would receive from Alfred _if_ this went bad. God knows that old man knew how to pour salt in wounds with a few bitter words.

"Thr…" The unseen assailant's words were drowned by a loud bang coming from the kitchen. "Rex. Chuck. Ronnie. Go see who's in there."

"You got it." A second, deeper, voice answered.

Nightwing did not wait another second, reaching around the table and tossing the smoke pellets. A second later, he moved from his spot, going for another table. The gunmen, predictably, choked on the smoke and decided to open fire on Nightwing's last known location. The teen hero grabbed a handful of bird-shaped shuriken and quickly took aim. One by one, he tossed the weapons towards them and, one by one, he met his marks and knocked their weapons out of their hands.

Nightwing followed through with his attack, now headed straight for the coughing four men. The first man saw him and wildly swung while trying to suppress his fit of coughs. The teen ducked the blow, a subsequent punch landed in the man's abdomen caused the larger guy to sink to his knees.

Blue eyes darted right seconds before Nightwing skillfully dodged the second attacker. With quick reflexes, Nightwing was able to grasp and unsheathe his two metal batons. His hands moved swiftly, beating the second attacker with heavy strikes. Nightwing noticed a third man had recovered from smoke and flung one of his sticks at the man.

A solid thwack sound resonated when metal met forehead and the Russian man soon fell backwards, unconscious. This allowed Nightwing to sweep the man he was currently battling off of his feet before grabbing the man's left arm.

A click reached Nightwing's ears.

"You missed me bird boy!" the last man said, holding his recently recovered pistol in hand. "Now it's time to- Ugh!"

Nightwing watched as his last opponent fell to the ground, his grip tightened around the wrist he was holding as he saw two bullet holes in the back of the downed man. His eyes traveled to the standing Hornet as the newcomer approached him in the up-class restaurant.

"You… You killed him!" Nightwing exclaimed. He was met by silence, again, as the vigilante called the Yellow Jacket stepped in front of him. "What in the hell is your problem? He didn't have to die!"

Hornet removed his hood, revealing his masked face and dark goggles, and squatted in front of the hero in black and blue.

"I need answers on two things and you're going to give it to me. What you go through between now and then is up to you, understood?" Hornet said to the floored man that Nightwing held.

"Yes! Yes, please don't kill me!" the rather bulky man sobbed.

Nightwing was now more impressed, if not amazed. When he was Robin, it took a few punches to break down henchmen, and even then, they would lie or stall until Batman came. Then they would talk. As Nightwing, and more importantly _without_ Batman altogether, Richard had to be a little more forceful in his interrogations and hit harder to get the information he needed. Nightwing did not have that fear factor that his mentor had. Now here was Hornet who had merely asked and the guy was ready to spill his life story to the gunman in yellow.

Maybe it was the guns?

"What are the Sullivan and Mozgov families doing here?" Hornet asked.

"Vladimir Mozgov and Donny Sullivan have been friends since childhood! They grew up together!" the thug announced. "They were meeting to talk about joining Whale!"

Nightwing saw Hornet look up at him before the Yellow Jacket resumed his interrogation.

"Army Ant," Nightwing's brows creased at the name. "He was murdered by the Mozgov Family. Who did it?"

"I don't know!" A growl was heard from Hornet before he brought one of his pistols to the man's face. "I'm serious! I don't know! I've been in Gotham for five months, stationed with Vlad! I don't know what Dmitri has been doing here in New Camford! I swear!"

Nightwing got the impression that this Army Ant character was someone important to Hornet. He would have asked at the moment, but he doubted that Hornet was in a talking mood. While he did not know much about the hooded insect vigilante, Nightwing had come to know that Hornet was not the most talkative person in the world. Even if the Yellow Jacket _was_ in a talkative mood, he probably would not have said much.

Finally, Hornet stood up. "Donovan Sullivan and Vladimir Mozgov aren't here. I assumed that they either left when you entered or went to the meeting with Whale." Hornet looked down at the sobbing man. "Are you going to shut him up now?"

Nightwing grunted before using the escrima stick in hand to knock the crying man out. He looked up to see Hornet heading for the kitchen.

"Wait a minute," The less-than-talkative gunman paused in his steps. "You killed a man, an innocent man."

"…" Hornet's silence irritated Richard more than it did the previous day and the teen from Gotham City was seconds from snapping on the guy that strongly reminded him of the man Richard was trying to escape.

"Look at me! You killed him!" Richard ordered.

Slowly, Hornet turned towards Nightwing. "Go back to Gotham. This is my city and I'll do whatever the hell I have to so that it survives."

"How? By killing all of the people living here?" Nightwing questioned as he inched for his thrown baton.

"Bookworm has killed over a hundred people. You let him escape. Now he's here in New Camford." said Hornet with growing conviction. " _I'm_ not killing everyone. People like him are doing that. My job is to stop him from killing _another_ _hundred_ _innocent_ people and escaping like _you_ let him do!"

Nightwing swallowed quietly as he picked up his down escrima stick. He watched Hornet holster his guns, his nerves calming down slightly. The fact that the mysterious Yellow Jacket pocketed his guns did not necessarily make him any less dangerous.

Nightwing huffed. "You have a _small_ point. But the fact is if you go out there shooting people for no reason then you're no better than the guys we're trying to stop."

"Those guys killed my dad. They did so because people like you give them concussions to their head and further more fuck their thinking process up." argued Hornet. "I've killed four people up to date, and he," Hornet pointed to the downed man. "Isn't one of them. Not yet at least. So back the fuck off before I blow your goddamn brains out."

Nightwing stared at the taller vigilante, partially angered and partly understanding of his plight. Richard was no stranger to vengeance. Hell, the reason that he- and Bruce for that matter- did what they did was out of vengeance. But neither had killed a man. That was the line that this Yellow Jacket has seemingly crossed four times before.

"I'm not doing this for vengeance," Hornet said as if he was reading Nightwing's mind. "My dad was a gambler and apparently owed the Mozgov Family some money. I understand why they killed him." Hornet then turned around. "But unlike you, I actually give a damn about those who are truly innocent and can't fight back. People like Earl Clifford."

"Who is he?" Nightwing asked.

"Follow me."

Nightwing once more grunted as the Hornet just walked out without anything else being said. The teen pocketed his escrima sticks before stepping towards the kitchen. Nightwing looked around the high class restaurant. The ambience did not necessarily scream "Russian crime family here!" as much as it said, "peaceful and authentic Greek food here." Yet, this high-end restaurant was used as the meeting place between Vladimir Mozgov and Donald Sullivan. The staff had been paid to cater to the two men and their respective entourages. And now, this. He eyed a table of untouched food and sighed.

Richard shook his head. "Waste of a good rack of lamb…"

With that, Nightwing walked towards the kitchen. He only hesitated when he heard a groan coming from one of the downed men. Nightwing looked to see that it was actually the shot man that was making noise. Nightwing struggled with going to help the wounded man or following the guy that shot him.

His body decided for him and Nightwing found himself going after Hornet, stepping by the men that he and Hornet had rendered unconscious. He took a mental note that the men that he did not recognize had dark bruises on their face, obviously from brute force. Nightwing's blue eyes moved away from them. It was part of the job to see scenes such as this and, on more than one occasion, this had been what a bad night for Batman looked like. But there was a major difference between Batman and the Yellow Jacket of New Camford.

Hornet did not seem bothered in the least.

Nightwing noticed that the other male was apparently relaxed. No heavy breathing. No shaking. Just relaxed. It was odd as Batman at least expressed aggravation or annoyance. But Hornet… There was nothing there in his voice or body language.

Nightwing exited the back of the building and quickly shot his grappling hook for the roof before he was seen by the crowd in front of the restaurant. Seconds later, he was ascending onto the restaurant roof where Hornet was presently staring at the street below.

"He could have died." Nightwing voiced.

Hornet turned his head towards Nightwing as if he was only acutely aware of Nightwing's presence before looking back at the street. This made the Gothamite grind his teeth for a second or two. He had dealt with rudeness before and had all the training in the world to deal with this rationally. But was there any rationality to a masked man with guns?

"If they were here to strike a deal," Hornet finally stated, obviously annoyed with Nightwing still pressing the matter of the shot man. "Then that means that the Whale and Smalls deal happened somewhere else. You just spooked them."

"How do you know that?" interrogated Nightwing as he stepped towards the hooded hero.

"It's obvious, isn't it?" Nightwing stopped and thought before giving a shrug of his shoulders. It _was_ obvious that Whale had orchestrated the meeting somewhere else and, if one of the Sullivan members escaped, then Whale would be informed of his and Hornet's interference.

Nightwing crossed his arms. "So what do we do?"

"Trust each other, for starters," The statement caused blue eyes to cut at the hooded vigilante. "I haven't been doing this long so I don't know how that works- the team thing that is. But you don't need to keep questioning my methods. I got the information, didn't I?"

"Yes," Nightwing began. "But, at what cost? That man could bleed out before the cops arrive and then what? You've made them more afraid of you than the bad guys."

Hornet gave a quiet snort. "Everyone is afraid of a masked guy with guns, regardless of what suit he wears." Nightwing, once more begrudgingly, agreed with the statement. "You're not going to last long if you keep debating what's right and wrong. Not in this city at least."

"I've been doing this for years." Nightwing pointed out. "I know how this goes. I know what I'm doing."

"No. You don't." Nightwing noticed that the Yellow Jacket's words were now quick and to the point. "This isn't Gotham City. Up here, the bad guy walks away and the hero ends as a footnote in the obituary. It's why they call this the City without Heroes."

"I heard about that. But you're here and I've seen others. So what's the deal?" questioned Nightwing.

"Those guys aren't stopping much. They're worse than the cops." Hornet answered. "And I'm not trying to stop some guy robbing a corner store. I'm here to finish a few missions for Army Ant… And my dad."

"Your dad? You mentioned him earlier. Was he-"

"An idiot who owed the Mozgov and Sullivan money? Yes." Hornet sharply interrupted. "They killed him for six hundred dollars because to the bad guys- the _real_ bad guys- that's all we're worth. A few hundred dollars." Hornet paused and turned his head to face the slightly shorter hero. "Like I said, I understand why they killed him. But there are people out there who don't understand why their dads, their moms, their brothers and sisters, their _children_ are killed by these guys and that's what I'm after. To give them answers and bring the guys who did it to justice, one way or another."

Richard stood silently. The guy beside him oddly gave him a trustworthy vibe- to a painfully blunt extent. It was as if Hornet honestly had nothing to lose, revealing sensitive information to strangers such as Nightwing with the underlying snitch-and-die aura around him. He would be perfect in Bludhaven, Richard thought.

"I lost my parents as well," Nightwing eventually revealed. "I've been doing this practically since then. I did everything in my power to find the guy who had them killed. And even after I found him… I couldn't…"

"I would've done it."

Nightwing did not argue. He believed that if Hornet, whoever the guy truly was beneath the mask, had been given the opportunity to kill the bastard behind his family's murder, that Hornet would pull the trigger. Maybe there was some sort of closure one got when they pulled the trigger, but that was not what Nightwing stood for.

It was then that Hornet brought his right hand up to the side of his head. Nightwing watched with interest now as Hornet was in a very familiar pose. Hand held to the side of the head, head slightly bent in concentration, and feet firmly planted on the ground. Yeah, Richard knew the look of someone getting a message on a comm-link better than most.

"We'll be there," Hornet said to whoever was on the other end of his link. "Come on. I know where Holocaust and Whale are."

Nightwing's brows rose. "Really? Where?"

"Not here," The answer caused Nightwing to mutter "No duh" beneath his breath, the other vigilante pulling his hood over his mask. "I heard that by the way. Let's go."

Nightwing released a chuckle. "Fine. Lead the way."

* * *

Jade said that it was impossible to gain someone's trust in less than forty-eight hours. In her opinion, people normally kept their guards up for a minimal of forty-eight hours after meeting a stranger, which is why the second date was always more important than the first.

Eli had gotten Nightwing to drop guard in a matter of hours. And all he had to do was to reveal a small part of himself, his true self that is, and let Nightwing hear the sincerity of it. Now Eli had Nightwing following him to the real meet-up between Tobias Whale and Leonard Smalls. Unfortunately for Eli, it was being withheld in the busiest (second during the summer) area of New Camford; Town Square.

Nightwing whistled from atop of the four-story department store that he and Eli were currently preoccupied.

"A lot of people. How are we going to do this?" Nightwing asked.

Eli kept quiet as he thought about the situation. This was the area where most of the wannabe heroes could be seen trying to make a statement and failing miserably. If he were to die in costume this would most likely be the place. Furthermore, it would be ironic to die around the corner from where his mom went to work.

"So they're at the construction site across the street, huh?" Nightwing said. "I don't see how we're getting around those guards in front or the ones in the back. Not without some fire power." Eli raised the back of his coat slightly to reveal his two holstered guns. "Oh, right."

"My guess is that they're somewhere on the top floors." responded Eli. "Meaning we can go up floor by floor or down from the roof."

Nightwing crossed his arms across his chest, nodding his head as well. "Yeah, but that's not going to be easy. This is Tobias Whale we're talking about. And if we missed one of those weapon caches then these guys are armed with whatever Killer Moth was selling."

"You think?" Hornet asked.

"Killer Moth normally sells to the higher bidder. I can't think of someone paying more than Whale." explained Nightwing. "Good thing you 'talked' to that guy before you put him in the hospital."

"He didn't give me much that would help you." Eli said. "But I do know where some of their hideouts are. Scare them hard enough, they'll run back to get more guns. That'll bring out-"

"Killer Moth," Nightwing finished. "But what about them?"

"Bonjour, mes amis!" Hornet drew his guns while Nightwing quickly grabbed his escima sticks, both teens doing a one-eighty to view the newcomer on the roof with them. "It is I! Captain Red!"

Eli released an annoyed groan as he stared at the masked man in front of him. The guy was dressed in, what looked like, a large Canadian flag. His suit was white with a red leaf chest emblem, red sleeves that covered his arms to the wrist. His pants were the same vibrant red that showed on his top. A white mask covered much of the man's face, everything sans his eyes and mouth, with a red maple leaf on the center of his forehead.

"Captain Red, huh?" Nightwing said as he looked at Hornet. "Friend of yours?"

Hornet lowered his guns. "Captain Red, originally from Canada. He's been running around here for the past nine months or so. Maybe a year. His pay grade is corner-store goons and purse snatchers, not this."

The physically taller and muscular man put his hands on his hips in a cliché good-guy pose.

"So you've heard of me, eh?" Behind his goggles, Eli rolled his eyes upward.

"So… You're another one of the heroes of this town, huh?" Nightwing said as he also holstered his weapons. "At least you're more talkative than this guy."

Captain Red noticeably frowned. "You're the Yellow Jacket right?" Eli only turned his attention back to the construction site where Whale and Holocaust were at. "Aren't you supposed to be in Cheshire Square?"

Eli chose to ignore the gallant hero behind him. Captain Red was one of the more known vigilantes of the city that had yet to die. From Malcolm's notes, Eli knew that his father had teamed with the so-called Northern Soldier from Niagara Falls at least three times before. Malcolm had suspected that Captain Red was a meta, having superior strength and speed than the average man, but had never confirmed it.

Though, what Eli did confirmed, was that the guy was quite the bigmouth.

"Caught a few street racers the other night. They won't be destroying our roads anymore." Red boasted to Nightwing. "Everyone runs from the Man in Red!"

Eli fixed his goggles to zoom in on the site, scanning the structure carefully. He could confirm two vehicles parked outside, one being owned by Leonard Smalls. The teen continued his search upwards. He thought about turning the lens on his goggles to track heat signatures but chose against it.

And when he came to the eighth floor of the structure, he was glad he did.

"Move!" Eli ordered as he began to run for the back of the building.

Nightwing followed with Captain Red slowly coming afterwards. The missile that Eli had seen being launched hissed throughout the air before colliding with the front of the department store. The force of the impact sent Eli sprawling for glass that made skylight of the store.

"Shit!" Eli cursed before his body crashed through the glass, heading for the floors below.

Out of desperation, he fired a grappling hook upwards- not necessarily aiming for anything but an answered prayer that would allow him to live this. He did not hear the hook grasp onto anything, but he did feel his body jerk. Before he knew it, he was tumbling onto the fourth floor of the building.

"Oh my God!"

"Is he dead?"

"Is that the Yellow Jacket?"

Eli clutched his fingers first and then his toes. He was still alive, painfully alive, and appeared to have working limbs. His ears were ringing and he did not know if that was the result of explosion or the crash or some head trauma. Either way, Eli knew he had to get up and he had to catch, if no one else, Tobias Whale. That was his target.

 _"E… Lias… Kid! Hey kid!"_ Eli groaned at the voice. _"Elias…! Hey kid, do hear me?!"_ The frantic voice of Nick clearly came through his earpiece now. _"Damn it! I knew not to let you go after him!"_

Eli then looked around him. There had been a small crowd around him. The rest of the people in panic after a rocket took out much of the front wall on the top floor. The building was still standing, but Eli was sure that that was a fact that Holocaust knew and willing to do something about it.

"Move," Eli grumbled to the people as he reeled his grappling hook back. "Get out of here."

 _"Kid, you need to retreat. Come back so I can check on-"_

"I'm going after him." Eli growled with stubbornness while pushing himself up onto his knees. The teen eventually stood up and looked around, pushing people who were trying to aid him away. "Where are they? Nightwing? Captain Red? Where…?"

"Hornet!" Eli had never been so happy to hear a voice he found slightly annoying before in his life. "Hornet!"

Eli shoved his way through the crowds, finding Nightwing leaning against the larger Captain Red. While Nightwing looked visibly injured with blood leaking from his lip, Red appeared to be fine.

"They saw us," Eli announced. "We have to move before they escape. Or worse, they meet up with Killer Moth."

"You are one spunky guy!" Eli's eyes twitched involuntarily at Captain Red's optimistic voice and word choice. "But if we are not careful, mes amis, we will most likely harm the civvies, no?"

Eli looked to see Nightwing giving an affirmative nod. Eli was not worried about the people scattering out of the store in a frantic manner. It was not his job to care. His job was to stop the people causing the chaos. Yet, he knew that he was going to need help to stop Whale which meant that he would have to help them before they helped him.

"Come on," Nightwing said moving away from Captain Red. "We need to make sure no one is under the rubble."

"Oui." Captain Red answered before running towards the wreckage.

Nightwing looked at Eli. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Fall just hurt like hell." Hornet answered. "We need to…" His words were interrupted by gunfire from the floor below, screams following the assault. "Damn it. They're here."

"Then we take them down," Nightwing paused as he saw Hornet make a move for the escalators. "Don't kill if you can subdue. We don't need more-" A spray of bullets were heard, accompanied with more screams. "We're not them."

Eli gave his temporary ally a nod before the two split up. Eli found himself peering over a railing to view the bottom floors. He could see roughly ten slain bodies below which did nothing to calm his nerves.

 _"Kid, what the hell is going on?"_ Nick questioned.

"Whale sent some men into Kacey One. I'm on the top floor. They're down by the food court." Eli answered. "I don't know how many there are but we still have civilians in the area." The boy stopped momentarily. "I don't know the play here Hickman. I can't shoot in here with people running about."

 _"Remember those kids, Eli? Think about them. You_ _have_ _to do this."_ Nick answered. _"Find a secure place with less traffic. Be smart. Don't get into an all out gun fight. Be smart."_

Eli took those words into heart and looked around. Rows of appliances caught his attention. Refrigerators, stoves, cabinets on display, and just about everything else one would need to design one's home. Beneath him was the floor for electronics, and beneath that, two floors of clothing. If he was going to make a stand, it would be here.

"Oi!" Hornet looked left to see Captain Red walking towards him with a body slung over each shoulder. "Mort…"

Using the context of the grave tone that Red used as he lied the motionless bodies down in front of Eli, the Yellow Jacket could assume that they were dead. He stepped towards the two, both elderly women, and put his index and middle fingers on one neck and then the other.

"Damn," Eli said after finding no pulses. "Are there more?"

"Bien sûr," Captain Red answered. "But there is a lot of rubble to dig through. It'll take me at least an hour." The man paused and looked around. "Where is…? Nightwing, was it?"

"Dealing with the guys below. They came in with guns and-"

"This is unacceptable!" Captain Red bellowed. "I will go help him!"

Patience was clearly something that Eli lacked; Eli knew that all too well. So it was no surprised to the boy that the urge to shoot the man supposedly helping rose tremendously during Captain Red's rant. But he chose not to and the Canadian-born hopped over the railing and dove for the floors below.

Eli did not stand still either. He ran as fast as his pained body would allow and eventually reached the area with the refrigerators. Coming around a corner, he found three workers- two men and a woman- crouched on the ground. The three stared at Eli and he at them. There was silence before he brought his finger to his masked lips, motioning them to remain silent.

"Up here! Boss said to find the two that shot up Mylos!" Eli heard as he crouched down. "You two go check the rubble. Marco, you and I will check this way!"

Four, Eli figured. There were four of them here. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. He could handle four. He would have to. Opening his eyes, he saw the workers of the place staring at him as if he was their potential savior and he inwardly groaned.

He was not doing this for some heroic recognition like Captain Red.

"Move," Eli whispered.

The three headed further down the aisle with Eli following behind them. Eli was unsure how he was going to get three whimpering workers out of the store but he knew that he had to. Not necessarily for the applause or any public recognition. Yet he had to do it because, to his knowledge, these two men and one woman were innocent. Maybe they smoked some illegal drug. Maybe one of them was cheating on their spouse. But they were not working with murderers like Tobias Whale and Leonard Smalls.

Eli could now see one of the emptied counters, the cash register long abandoned. He quickly and quietly walked to the man in front of the group.

"Go behind the counter and wait until I get there." Eli whispered to the man. "They're after me so stall them if you can. Don't risk your life for me. Tell them where I am. I'm going to put an end to this."

"Wait!" the man whispered loudly. "Aren't you, you know, going to save us?"

Eli refused to answer. Never promise something out of your control, those were Nick's words. Eli should never tell someone he could save them unless he was absolutely sure that he could. And in this instance, Eli was confident that he could survive. But he did not know if he could save them as well.

Rolling his shoulder, Eli crept back around with his a handgun in his right hand. He listened carefully as he walked down an aisle of assorted bed sheets and pillows. He could constantly hear Jade in his head telling him to step lighter, be faster, and to stop breathing so heavily. He could hear Ben telling him to be perfect- make no mistakes whatsoever. He could hear Nick telling him to be smart and not engage unless he had a clear shot or necessarily had to. And then there was his dad…

Eli paused in his thoughts. What would Army Ant say at a moment like this? It was clear what Malcolm would say to his son: Go home. It would be an order in that voice that Eli never argued against. As George once called it, the G.I Miles voice. But Army Ant? Eli had never met the guy in costume and did not know his tactics. So what would the Army Ant say?

Eli stopped at the end of the aisle as he heard footsteps approaching. He reached and turned the night vision of his goggles on before using his left hand to grab a smoke grenade. His gloved fingers felt for the Braille on the side. His flash grenades were smooth while the smoke grenades had Braille so Eli could easily just reach, feel, and know which was which. The last thing he wanted was to grab a flash grenade and blind himself due to ill-preparation.

It happened in a matter of seconds. Eli threw the sphere to the ground, creating smoke around the area just as the approaching thug came into view. The man undoubtedly sprayed, while Eli had dropped to the floor and shot the man in his knees. As the man fell with a shout, Eli placed one of his brass knuckles on his left hand and knocked the man out with three solid shots.

The smoke cleared to reveal a knocked out, curly haired man and nothing else. The commotion had garnered the attention of the other three but their target was not present. Just their downed teammate.

"Over here!"

By now, Eli had quietly jogged around the area, allowing the guys to run towards their beaten friend. His right hand now held three darts. While he was not as proficient as Nick was, he could still hit a target with enough time to aim and throw. All he had to do was hit them.

"Is he dead?" the shortest guy asked as the bald member of the quartet bent over to check on Eli's victim.

Eli took in a quiet deep breath as he took aim and inched closer. He just had to get the dart to stick. From there, they would be put out.

One dart… Two dart… Three dart. Each dart was flung forward with precision. The first one hit its mark. The second met its mark. The third missed as the short guy moved after seeing his friends' fates and turned towards Eli's position.

With quickness, Eli ducked down an aisle before the last standing goon unleashed a barrage of bullets his way. The teen kept as calm as possible as he heard the bullets rip throughout the area. Various cabinets and boxes were being hit and shredded by the lead being sprayed.

Eli listened carefully for an audible click that told him it was alright to attack. Hearing that particularly click, Eli grabbed one of his flash grenades and chucked it at the area where the last grunt stood. As the sphere soared through the air, he returned the vision on his goggles to normal and listened.

"Shit!"

Hearing that, the boy ran down the aisle at full speed. He spotted the blinded man staggering around before leaping into the air. One superman punch later, he had dispatched of the foursome. Taking his brass knuckles off, he flexed the fingers of his left hand while staring down at the two men that were hit by his darts; one in his arm while the other was hit in the back of the leg.

"See? You can beat people without killing." Eli growled at the undoubtedly annoying voice of Nightwing. He turned to see the vigilante approaching him. "I was waiting for you just incase you needed help. Red is downstairs helping the survivors out of the building."

Eli looked down at the smallest man and pointed.

"We need answers." Hornet voiced through small labored breaths. "Those two will be out for thirty minutes, give or take. Do you have anything to restrain them?"

"Word of advice," Nightwing answered while approaching him. "Always carry these." Eli was surprised when Nightwing revealed a few heavy duty zip ties. "Comes in handy."

Eli only nodded as he watched the hero from Gotham City cuff the four unconscious men on the floor. Meanwhile, the Yellow Jacket knelt down and picked up one of the dropped rifles. His eyes narrowed as he studied the gun.

"Same from the weapons cache." Eli stated. "You were right. Killer Moth is selling to them. Probably trying to extend his business to Dakota as well."

Nightwing hummed thoughtfully. "That seems like a smart play. Problem is why would a gang filled with meta-humans need rifles?"

Eli thought the same thing quietly. He was not well-versed in meta-humans and their life styles. He assumed that, for the most part, they were just normal people with supernormal abilities. They still bled just like the average person. But, he had seen Holocaust incinerate a guy without second thoughts. Holocaust did not need guns- he was a walking _flamethrower_. Did this mean that every meta-human was that dangerous or had dangerous abilities? No. But it did mean that Holocaust was preparing his men for _something_ big that would make any meta-human arm himself/herself. The question was: What was Holocaust preparing for?

"So," Nightwing said after tying the wrists of the men behind their respective backs. "What to do with this guy, huh?"

"Back room." Eli answered.

Nightwing did not argue. Interrogation was part of the game- he knew that more than most. But there was a question to just how far Hornet would push his interrogations. Nightwing was unsure if Hornet could successfully question anyone or just scare people so that they told him what he wanted to.

Nightwing took the smallest guy with Yellow Jacket to the backroom. They found a desk to sit the man at before Nightwing went through his utility belt. Soon, he revealed some smelling salts and held it under the knocked out man's nose for a few seconds. The man came to with heavy coughs, Nightwing giving Hornet a pat on his shoulder.

"He's all yours." Eli just grunted, not in annoyance this time, but pain. His body was still sore from the fall and Nightwing was not helping. "Don't kill him."

Eli ignored the departing teen as he stared at his prisoner. The man was smaller than Eli was with small wrinkles on his face that led Eli to believe the man was somewhere near his mid-forties. That, and the few white streaks in the man's nearly all-dark hair had Eli thinking that maybe this guy was too old for this sort of thing.

Eli reached to the pocket on his pants where his dad's trench knife resided and pulled it out. The man noticeably flinched at the sight of the blade and began to speak quietly in Spanish.

"English." Eli growled. The man closed his eyes, his head dropping, still praying. "I want answers. Give them to me and you live. Don't and I'll end you, got it?"

The man nodded furiously. "I saw what you did to those other guys at Mylos. Please, I have kids!"

"Those guns," Hornet began. "Who did you get them from?"

"From some guy from Gotham! Killer Moth!" the man said. "Pleased don't tell them that I told you this! They'd kill me!"

Eli held the blade in front of the man's face. " _I'll_ kill you. Just tell me what I want to know and I promise you that you will be able to walk out of here alive." Again the man nodded. "Who was at the meeting?"

"I don't know. I was stationed outside in front. The guys that came went around the back way." he answered. "I do know that the boss met some freak from Dakota. Some fire guy."

"Holocaust?"

"Yeah! Yeah, that guy!" Eli sighed heavily, showing his anger for being told something he already knew. "Look, I'm not one of those guys that they let into the meeting! I just stand guard!"

"Then there's really no need for you, is there?" questioned an obviously irritated Hornet.

"Wait!" The man pleaded. "I know that there is something going down in Gotham in a few days! Guys down there have been flashing the signal and the bug guy sees it!"

Eli frowned. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"The light! Whale gave his people the light so if they are in trouble, the Moth comes and takes out the problem." Eli was confused by the statement. "You… You don't believe me do you?"

"…"

The man's nerves skyrocketed when he saw the Hornet reveal another dart. He began to flail in his seat wildly.

"Wait! Wait! I told you what I know! You promi- Ugh!" The stab in the man's shoulder with the dart sent the captured man into a world of unconsciousness.

Eli stared at the slumped over man before sighing and walking out of the room. He began to put things together. Killer Moth sold weapons to local gangs, gangs that Tobias Whale eventually absorbed into his organization. They ranged from smaller local gangs like the SRC all the way up to the top crime families such as the Sullivan and Mozgov families. And he (Whale) was most likely going to use Kord Industries as a front for his drug enterprise.

But it got worse.

If, and Eli was being presumptuous here, if Whale was in allegiance with Robert Pullman, then this went into the legal offices of Connecticut- or at least New Camford. It made the teen think that _maybe_ he _should_ let Jade kill Pullman _if_ he is her true target. He could simply say that he tried but Jade got the better of him, which was a likable excuse. And with Pullman out of the way, he could send Nightwing to Holocaust or Killer Moth. That would leave Eli with a clear path at Tobias Whale and closing one of his father's remaining cases.

Eli casually took the escalator to the floors below with these thoughts in his head. Whale was obviously setting his establishment in New Camford. Whether or not Miles knew that before his death was irrelevant to the fact that the Army Ant's suspicions about Whale have been confirmed.

"Did you kill him?" On the second floor is where Hornet reunited with Nightwing and Captain Red.

"No." was the simple answer from Eli. "I'm leaving. I have what I need."

"What about the people here?" Nightwing questioned.

"That's his job." Hornet told Nightwing, pointing at Captain Red.

Nightwing growled. "You don't have to be an asshole all the time."

"I'm not." droned out the Yellow Jacket. "Captain Red saves the people and talks to the press. That's _his job_. My job is different. I stop the bad guys so they don't escape from prison and bring hell to another city." The not-so-subtle jab met its mark and Nightwing visibly winced. "So why don't you let me do my job. I'll find you when I have something."

"Mon ami, you are willing to let these people suffer while you go and get into a gunfight with those monsters?" Captain Red chimed in.

Hornet turned around. "I need to find Whale. You don't need me here."

Red went to say more, though Nightwing stopped him with a raised hand and a small shake of his head. The two allowed Hornet to ascend the escalators again and exit via the shattered glass ceiling.

"He is tough to talk to." Captain Red noted.

"Yeah," Nightwing answered. "But I've been around worse, trust me."

* * *

The next morning, Eli found himself just staring up at the ceiling. He never found Tobias Whale. He never found Holocaust. And he never found Robert Pullman. In fact, he never looked.

No, Eli went home and took a long shower before going to sleep. His body was aching from the fall and he was not in any mood to deal with Nightwing or Captain Red or any other masked vigilante in New Camford. HIs mind and body was near its breaking point and Ben's training did not help whatsoever.

Yet Eli could not sleep past seven the next morning. He was wide awake in his bed with his eyes staring directly at the ceiling. Ben had told him be prepared by nine (which meant by eight thirty) and Eli still had to return the suit back to Nick's.

Eli sat up in his black tank top and blue shorts. His left arm had a few scratches and scars from the fall the previous day, not to mention the small bump on his forehead above his left eyebrow. Avoiding his home in Mancastle was a necessity at the moment. If Leila saw him like this then she would more than likely attack Ben for the scars. So he had to stay at the apartment for as long as he could.

Eli found himself reaching for his cell phone before he could even think about it. And before he knew it, he was waiting for Leila to answer his call.

"…" The line was silent for a while before he heard his mother sigh. "You called."

"I said I would." Eli answered, his voice revealing just how tired he was. "I would've come home last night, I just got caught up with training and preparing for work today. I'm sorry."

"Elias," Leila said calmly. "It's fine. You're okay, aren't you?"

Eli sat quietly. No. He was not okay. He had Tobias Whale and Bookworm to find. He had Killer Moth delivering military grade guns to random civilians. His childhood friend just got in business with some fire-breathing meta-human from Dakota City. He was supposed to call Barbara but had past out from exhaustion. And Jade was last seen in his apartment and he had no idea where she was.

So all in all, Eli felt more than shitty at the moment. And for once, lying was only going to make it worse.

"I'm alive." Eli finally answered quietly. "I guess… I guess that means I'm alright."

Leila released a sound as if she disapproved of Eli's statement.

"I know that this isn't easy for you Elias. But I want you to know something." His mother said. "You aren't alone, Elias. You never have been and your not now. No matter how it appears that I felt for you and your dad back then, I will always love you two."

"…I know Mama." Eli stated before leaning back. "Before I get ready for work, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?" Leila returned.

"Your first date with Dad," Eli began. "I never heard it… I guess because I never asked and now…" Eli swallowed quietly. "I just wanted to know about it."

"Are you trying to compare notes for your date with Barbara?" his mom lightly teased. Eli heard a shift on her end of the call and figured she must have gotten out of bed. "I will tell you how our first date went, but you must promise that you will _never_ repeat what I'm about to say again. And this conversation goes nowhere near your aunt, deal?"

Due to the fact that her voice was considerably quieter, Eli got the feeling that he was in for a rather long detailed tale.

"I promise Mama." Eli responded.

Leila sighed. "The first date I had with your dad, he took your granddad's car and we went to New York for a concert. Your aunt had talked me into it and Maria had bought this slutty skirt for me to wear." A pause. "It was the first time that I seen New York City…"

Eli just lied back and listened to the story. He may not have caught Tobias Whale or stopped Holocaust, but he did do one thing that he had promised to do. Oddly enough, this one promise seemed to be worth it.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** So the dynamics of Nightwing and Hornet are furthered a bit more. Of course, their personalities will cause more conflict between the two later on. Meantime, other heroes in New Camford, Gotham City, and Dakota City will be seen in later chapters. Next time, Eli will be in Gotham finally going on that date with Barbara... And also beginning his long line of vengeance on the Mozgov and Sullivan families. See you then.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Warnings:** The following chapter is rated T for Teen for violence and swearing.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Eleven: Loose Ends

Most good things, and bad, happened at night. That was his business perspective. Out of all of his dealings and jobs, the best ones came at night. So it was no surprise that Cameron van Cleer, born Drury Walker, was up and out at four o'clock in the morning.

His client this morning- or rather his _clients_ \- were a gangbanger from Dakota City known as Holocaust and the notorious Tobias Whale. The location of their meeting was Ivy Town after the fiasco that happened two days ago in nearby New Camford. Ivy Town did not have as many costumed cops running about trying to maintain order; just four or five of them. And most importantly, Ivy Town was a lot quieter at four o'clock in the morning than the tourist-infested New Camford.

Dropping down in the alleyway, the man landed in costume. His long sleeve top was a light purple with his signature orange moth emblem on it. His pants were a matching orange as the emblem on his top. Around his waist was a utility built, derived from the photos of Batman's, with his large signature cocoon gun. The orange wings on his back folded downward to form a cape-like appearance as he stood and fixed his yellow gloves. But the most distinct detail was the green fanged helmet that gave him the appearance of his namesake.

"Killer Moth," Tobias Whale said from the shadows. "It's good to see that someone from Gotham has a sense of time."

Behind Whale, Holocaust appeared. "We're not here to talk about stupid shit like that. What the hell is this guy good for again? Weapons?"

"Yes. Weapons. But not just guns." Whale explained. "From what I hear, Killer Moth has an entire collection of gadgets that can compete with the Bat. That, and he has friends in Gotham that'll help us move this along. For cheap."

Holocaust frowned. "Who's that stupid?"

"His name is Firefly," Killer Moth spoke. "And don't call him stupid. He just… He just likes the job, that's all."

"The dumb fucker who goes around blowing shit up? You're going to hire him as well?" Holocaust's question was directed towards Tobias. "What kinda shit are you pulling here?"

Tobias took in a deep breath. "Firefly is need for… Corporate sabotage. When you can't beat your competitors, it's nice to just burn them to the ground." Tobias gave Holocaust a raised brow. "I thought you of all people could understand that."

"Yeah, well we gotta deal with those punks in Camford first." said Holocaust. "Word on the street is that that Nightwing guy has been snooping around Bludhaven and he just magically shows up here as soon as Killer Moth appears? He's either tailing him or working with him."

Killer Moth raised his hands. "Nightwing and I aren't working together. Hell, I don't even know who the guy is."

"Leave Nightwing to me. For now, I want you two to get to know each other well." Tobias stated. "Holocaust will be delivering the goods New Camford. From there, I will distribute it to where it needs to go. He gets paid. I get paid. And Moth, for every cop, hero, or grandma who tries to stop us you put in the ground, _you_ get paid. Oh, and for the other goods that you can bring us."

"These 'other goods' are for the senator's private guards, I take it." Tobias nodded at Moth's question.

"They are. And once I have Kord Industries, we'll be able to sell your product to more people. I hear Two-face pays a pretty fine for weapons such as these." Whale added.

Holocaust scoffed. "I couldn't care less. Guns… I don't need them. My crew doesn't need them."

"But mine does." Tobias stated. "And my crew _is_ your crew and vice versa. These heroes are getting smarter, tougher. So we need to adapt or be forgotten."

"That shit-"

"If you think," By now, it was clear to Killer Moth that Tobias was annoyed by the younger man. It was heard by the way Tobias spoke now. "That Paris Island was shit, then you've never heard about Suicide Slums in Metropolis. Cats down there would sell their own mothers into prostitution for lunch money. Yeah, you survived the Big Bang in Dakota. I respect that. But you wouldn't know what to do in a world where people looked at death as a promotion from God… Because they hated working for me."

Holocaust was mildly impressed by the speech while Killer Moth was more than ready to leave. Moth knew about Whale and his doings, the most memorable was hanging the corpse of a teenage Earl Clifford from a basketball goal at a park. The man was ruthless, even more so than Holocaust next to him. And Killer Moth was not going to be another one of those victims.

"I have return to Metropolis," Tobias said with his attention solely on Moth now. "Can I count on you to get the first batch of those 'ice bombs' ready?"

Killer Moth nodded. "It'll be ready in a day or two. I'll personally deliver it to you." The man in the helmet looked at Holocaust. "Nice to finally meet one of you people."

"Are you some sort of racists or what?" Holocaust growled.

"No, not racist," defended Killer Moth. "Just never been to Dakota, is all. I read about it though. Glad that I can see the results of the gas in person."

"Say something like that again," threatened Holocaust. "I'll give you a real taste of what I can do!"

"Not here. Not now." Tobias told the pair. "Let's go. I have a bird to kill."

"What about that Yellow Jacket that's scaring all the guys in Cheshire Square?" Holocaust questioned.

Tobias waved him off. "I'll deal with him. I promise."

Killer Moth silently walked away. He had listened to the tales from Bludhaven about Nightwing and the Yellow Jacket in New Camford. Nightwing was on his tale for reasons Killer Moth could not figure out at the moment. And then there was the Yellow Jacket. The guy seemingly appeared, raised hell, and left- nothing like the heroes that Killer Moth was used to. Yellow Jacket was not apparently after anyone, per se, though he did have the tendency to appear during Moth's deals. He had interrupted two of them while robbing one of his caches. The duo was no Batman and Robin. They were worse.

* * *

It took one five hours to drive from New Camford to Gotham City. Of course, anyone who had actually done that knew that there was no online map that added the Connecticut-New York- New Jersey traffic accurately, meaning that five hour drive could become six or seven, or sometimes four depending on the driver.

It took four hours for the train in Ivy Town to make that same trip without the annoyances of drunken tourists driving horribly and toll booths. So Eli's choice of transportation was train and he was currently not alone.

Eli glanced over at Jade's calm face. The girl had practically scared the hell out of him when she met him at the metro station, the two riding the subway to Ivy Town and then heading for the train station together. He was curious as to why she was coming with him and she had offered no real answer. Then again, she never did.

A loud buzz temporarily broke Eli's thoughts. Jade sighed as she answered her cell phone.

"Yeah…? No, I'm not there yet… Fine, fine, I'll call you then… Bye." Eli gave his companion an inquisitive look. "What's that look for?"

Eli shrugged a shoulder. "You never told me why you wanted to come to Gotham with me."

"I booked a hotel. Wanted a vacation." Jade then gave Eli a smile. "Did you want to room with me? Ben won't be here to stop anything that happens…"

Eli chuckled quietly. "He isn't there half the times you try to start this with me."

"Fair," the girl commented before closing her eyes once more. "I have some business to take care of. That, and I know that you somehow smuggled your gear on board so I wanted to know what you were up to."

Eli did not answer. He had found a way to sneak his costume on the train, guns included. He was not after Whale or Bookworm at the moment. This was about the Mozgov and Sullivan families. His intentions were very clear: Go in, shoot a couple of guys, question others, kill the man that killed his dad. Nothing more, nothing less.

However, Eli was unsure about Jade's intentions. The two were quite comfortable with the other doing "business" out and about, though Eli always questioned what would happen if her business crossed or interfered with his. It would happen in the future. They both understood that. Today, however, Eli was unprepared to see Jade on the opposite side of one of his guns or he on the opposite side of her blade.

"Are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?" Jade teased.

"I wasn't planning on it." Eli answered. "She is the daughter of the commissioner."

"Are you trying to make me afraid of her?"

"I'm pointing out why you would love to kidnap her." Eli countered. Jade merely shrugged. Having the commissioner of the GCPD in her back pocket due to her possessing his kidnapped daughter was a good idea. "But I'm staying down here for a few days."

"Killing off the Mozgovs?" Eli merely nodded his head. "Sounds like fun. Just be careful. I've never met him, but they say that Batman is pretty damn scary."

Eli snorted. "Batman isn't a vengeful son with guns."

"Who knows who's behind that mask?" Jade stated as she settled in the back of her seat. "Maybe it's some lunatic out for blood? Or some rich guy with nothing better to do with his life?" She paused and gave Eli a critical eye. "Maybe it's a _girl_ who went through something similar to you?"

The pair just snickered at the thought before enjoying the silence of the train. Eli had not forgotten how she still avoided revealing why she was going to Gotham, but he was not going to push it. For the moment, he wanted to think about meeting his aunt and cousin and then eventually, his possible girlfriend. Only after they were all sated and placated would he do what he really wanted.

Cross the Mozgov Family off of his father's list once and for all.

* * *

Barbara sighed quietly as she lied in her bed. Last night had to be one of the longer nights of her Batgirl career with a plethora of crimes happening on her way home. Sadly, they were not Joker-trying-to-blow-up-the-theater crimes, oh no. No, these were petty girlfriend-keyed-boyfriend's-car crimes that, while Batman could overlook, Batgirl had an obligation to deal with. It seemed with each passing minute, the crimes got smaller and pettier until she was eventually the deciding factor to who could park in a specific spot along the street.

All in all, Barbara was in a restful mood today. Any and all crimes could be solved by the GCPD and Batman.

The redhead stretched out in her bed before rolling to dig through her discarded pants for her cell phone. She retrieved the mobile device, now positioning herself against the railing at the head of her bed.

A missed called from Richard. Obviously it was not important as he only called once and he left a message.

There were three texts from her friend Colleen. None were important enough to respond immediately.

Then Barbara's blue eyes widened. Apparently, Eli had called earlier today and she had missed it. Her fingers immediately moved to call him back before she could even process it. The last time they had spoken, two days prior, he had told her how he was currently trying to find a way to Gotham City without his mom and/or stepdad. She was curious as to if he did or not. The boy seemed determined- even downright stubborn- at points, and she picked that up during conversations with him.

"Yeah?" Barbara's heart actually sunk at the sound of another female on the other line. Of course, _of course_ , there was something wrong with the guy. "Hello? Anyone there?"

"Um, no, sorry, I must have the-"

"You're Jacks' girlfriend, right? Barbara?" For unknown reasons, Barbara felt her face heating up.

"N-no, we're not dating. Not yet anyway." Barbara said, the last part coming out as a mumble. She cleared her throat and asked the question that was burning in her head. "Um, not to be rude, but who are you?"

The other girl chuckled. "I'm his big cousin, Mal. Jacks just got in not to long ago and went to… Oh never mind! Here he is!"

Barbara listened to the sound of a background conversation taking place before a loud and familiar grunt was heard.

"I'm sorry Barbara. _Mallory_ doesn't always respect my personal boundaries." Eli said. It was obvious that he was directing his statement towards his cousin who could be heard laughing in the background. "Noisy ass bitch… Sorry."

Barbara giggled at his annoyance. "No problem Eli." She calmed herself enough to speak with nothing but a smile on her face. "So… You're in Gotham?"

"I told you I would be here." replied the boy before sighing. "I'm staying for a few days with my aunt and annoying cousin. If you wanted to meet up, we could."

"I'd like that." said the young heroine. "Will this be considered our first date?"

There was silence on the other line, startling Barbara. She had, in recent months, have come to known a handful of guys afraid of commitment. Fortunately, Barbara only knows this fact at the costs of her friend's failed attempts from going from one boy's "fuck buddy" to his actual girlfriend.

Barbara was _really_ hoping that Eli was not that guy.

"Sorry," Eli said after a moment of silence. "My cousin, Mal's son, fell asleep next to me and he somehow got his foot in my side. The kid sleeps weird."

"Oh… Well-"

"And we'll have to have that date early." Eli interrupted. "My aunt wants me to spend some time with them tonight so she's taking us out tonight."

"Oh! Oh, that's fine." said Barbara. "So, um, when can you stop by?"

"I'd have to know where you lived, Barbara." Barbara noted how his voice changed from apparent irritation to something her mother would refer to as a "smooth operator."

"Well I could text you my address and be ready at, say, two-ish?" Barbara stated.

"…" Another pause came before she heard Eli release another groan of detestation. "This kid and his feet…" Eli released a sigh. "I'll be there. Maybe a little late. I'm going to go back to sleep."

"Late night?" Barbara questioned.

"Later than I wanted," Eli told her. "But more importantly, the train left early for Gotham, so I had to wake earlier than usual as well."

Barbara clicked her tongue at the fact. She had experienced that before. Those nights where being Batgirl took the driver's seat of her life and she found herself sneaking in just before sunrise. Those nights seemed to hurt worse during the school year for obvious reasons. Her parents had always blamed late night phone calls as the reason- and they were partially right too- but there was much, _much_ , more than a call that kept Barbara up at night. She curiously wondered what it was that kept Eli awake.

Barbara shifted on her bed. "Say… You live near Cheshire Square, right?" Eli gave her an affirmative answer. "So… Have you seen the Yellow Jacket yet?"

"This guy," Apparently Eli was not a fan of the hero that has been causing, dare she say, quite the buzz in New Camford. "My ex seems to like him as well."

"Oh…"

"She has a blog online if you want to see." said Eli. "It has people talking about seeing him or stories that they heard. It's really becoming annoying… _Almost_ as annoying as my cousin right now."

A giggle was heard in the background making Barbara believe that Mallory had returned into the room.

"I have a friend visiting in New Camford," Barbara began. "He said that he had met the Yellow Jacket before. It was in some store."

"Must've been downtown a few days ago then," Eli noted. "Hannah, my ex, was telling me about it. Apparently it was some shoot-out, random people ended up dead. People he didn't save…"

Barbara's lips twisted. "You don't sound so enthusiastic about heroism."

"I have my reasons," his words made Barbara believe that there as more to the tale. However, he was quick to push it off though. "Hey, do you mind if I call you back later? Mal is really killing my patience."

"Oh, no, it's fine." Barbara said. "I'll just text you my address and we can leave later, 'kay?"

"Sure… Is your dad going to interrogate me?" Eli questioned, gaining another small laugh from Barbara.

"No! He's at work right now." Barbara said. "My mom however…"

"So long as she doesn't have a police escort with her I'll be fine." Eli replied. "See you then."

"Bye." she said quietly, he replying, before the two hung up.

Barbara lied in bed and stared upwards at the ceiling. Her last date, if one could call it a date that is, did not go that well in the least bit. It rained. The guy, as handsome as he was, was a bit cheap and interested in _every_ female that walked by their table. Her dad had sent two covert officers to watch the pair from a nearby table. And to top it off, Batman called her for some assistance.

Overall, that particular night sucked and she was really hoping that this date did not go half as bad as that one. Eli seemed alright on paper and she was physically attracted to him. However, he could be scum in disguise and be worse than the guy post-Richard.

Pursing her lips in thoughts, Barbara looked back at her cell phone. Apparently, she just found a reason to call her good friend Colleen for some personal advice.

* * *

Dressed in a short-sleeved collared shirt and jean shorts, Eli stepped out of the cab and stared at the home. Barbara stayed in a townhome in a neighborhood that oddly reminded Eli of Cheshire Square, possibly better. He gave the cab driver a hand gesture to wait while he made his way to the porch and rang the doorbell.

Despite the fact that it was well past two in the afternoon, thirty plus minutes to be exact, Eli was still tired. He had spent most of the previous nights stopping smaller unimportant crimes with the SRC and researching everything his father had about Killer Moth. It was very little and did nothing to solve the problem of the guns that were being pushed through his city.

Yet, that was a problem for another time. For now, he had to deal with the redhead answering the door.

"Eli!" Barbara said as she slipped out of the home. He raised his brows in mild humor, knowing this action as one Hannah did often. "Let's get going!"

"In a rush?" he teased her lightly, knowing the feeling all too well. Yet, when she grabbed his hand, he knew that his taunts would have to wait.

"So… I was thinking we could catch a movie, if that's alright." Barbara stated as she led her date to the taxi. "Just anywhere that my parents can't find me easily. They have this thing about hiring off-duty officers to tail me."

Eli opened the door for her. "I understand."

He did. Hannah's parents were just as watchful on them the first few dates. It got beyond irritating to Eli at points, though Hannah's overall positive attitude killed any revenge he could have planned.

Barbara wasted no time in telling the driver that they were going to the nearest theater and Eli found himself seated with a redhead who he had not seen in person since the Stagg fundraiser here in Gotham City. He casually scanned her, in a way that he was able to take in most of her details without looking like a complete perverted and hormonal teenage boy.

Her red hair was pulled into a ponytail that allowed him to get the fullness of her blue eyes behind her glasses. Her white blouse and purple skirt was somewhere in between taunting and professional- almost as if she was purposely giving him dirty librarian fantasies. Her skin tone seemed… Perfect. Not too pale where it gave him weird vampirish vibes or too tanned like a woman who constantly tried to get a tan for summer fashions. But somewhere perfectly in-between the two.

"So," Barbara said, her attention going from outside the window to the male beside her. "How are you?"

It was a rather lame attempt for an ice-breaker, but Eli took the bait nonetheless. It wasn't as if he had a better conversational starter.

"Tired." was his honest answer. "Work has been stressful. And moving in with my mom has been a pain in the ass as well." He paused and looked at her directly. "Do you mind if I cuss?"

"I'm a big girl. I can handle it." she told him with a smile. "Just… Express yourself."

Eli sighed. "Not a lot to express. My dad was recently killed and-"

"Oh no. I'm sorry." That had been something he had not told her during their talks together. He mentioned that he had to move in with his mom, but Barbara had just pinned it on a bad divorce or something. "Are you okay?"

"Better now, honestly," said the boy before releasing another breath. "I just had to get out of the city, you know? Away from everyone who just wants me to cry on their shoulder." He looked out of the window to his right. "But crying won't bring him back."

"…" Barbara stared at her date before looking downwards. "I lost my parents too…"

"What?" Eli questioned, looking at her. "I thought-"

"James Gordon is my uncle, not my dad. My parents, my birth parents, died in a car crash when I was two." Barbara recounted. "We lived in Dakota City- the city where the Big Bang happened? It was before then though…"

Eli swallowed. "So your uncle adopted you?" Barbara nodded. "Do you ever think about them?"

"Sometimes. Other times, I'm just happy that I had someone to take me in, you know? Someone who loved me." Barbara stated.

"Wish I could say the same about Mr. and Mrs. Nolan." noted Eli. "Not that I'm not grateful, because I am. I just… I just can't be who they want me to be. Worse, they have a son."

"I know!" Barbara added. "It's like, how can I actually compete with their actual son?"

Eli smiled. "Yeah… Bastard gets everything handed on a silver platter. Meanwhile, I feel like I'm walking-"

"On eggshells?" the redhead finished, Eli simply nodding his head. "I know the feeling. It's like, no matter how hard my dad tried to make me feel welcomed, I still knew that he wasn't my dad or that she wasn't my mom. And then when he got remarried, it was awkward all over again."

Eli leaned back in his seat, looking at Barbara.

"When my mom first married Robert," he recounted. "I think I refused to speak to her for about a month until my dad forced me to. When I got older, it got worse. I started calling her 'Mrs. Nolan' instead of referring to her as my mom. Sometimes though… I don't think she deserves it."

Barbara smiled. "Eli, she's still your mom. I think she deserves to be called that. At least to her face."

Eli snorted. "Right… A few weeks ago, I didn't even know she lived in Gotham before moving to New Camford or that she ran away from her home in Bialya. It's kind of hard to say that she's my mom when I don't even know her. Didn't even know my dad apparently."

"Then get to know her. You're smart. I know that." Barbara told him. "Just sit and talk to her."

Eli's brows rose. "And say what?"

"I don't know," Barbara responded with a shrug. "Maybe the truth? Or just a lie that'll dissolve the tension? Anything positive really."

"Can't even remember the last time I told her that I loved her." Eli said before chuckling. "Damn… This is not the conversation for the first date, is it?"

"No, but it's a fresh change." joked Barbara. "You could've been some crazy psycho. Glad to know that part of you." Barbara smiled. "Besides, my friends and mom have been urging me to go on a date for weeks now. It's better with you than half of the guys I've met."

"I don't know if that's a compliment or if the guys you met have all been creeps your dad brings in for questioning." Barbara smiled.

"Between you and me, I kind of have a thing for the bad boys." giggled Barbara.

"What does that say about me?" Eli questioned.

"I guess I'll have to find out."

Eli took in the moment. He was unsure if Barbara's dad and/or mom had assigned a detail to follow them. He did not know if Jade currently knew his location or if the Vietnamese girl had found her long-lost father and was putting a blade through him. And he did not know if Nightwing was, once more, putting Tobias Whale on edge by ruining another meeting. But he knew that Barbara Gordon was easy to talk to. And, for the first time since his father's death, that's all Eli wanted.

Someone to talk to.

* * *

It was not odd to be in Wayne Manor and not speak to Bruce Wayne. There were literally hundreds of former party guests, mostly guys, who could attest to this. But sleeping in the manor without Bruce's knowledge was another thing and going into the kitchen and avoiding one Alfred Pennyworth was damn nigh impossible. So Richard was not trying to sneak around the manor he had abandoned months ago. He was not trying to avoid Bruce, if the man was even there that is. He was just trying to get the conversation with Alfred over with.

Strolling into the kitchen with a bad case of bed hair and tired legs, Richard saw the aged butler give him a look of amusement and pity.

"I know." Richard said as he took a hand through his hair. "I'll cut it later."

"I'm sure you will Master Richard." Alfred replied while fixing Richard a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage. "I've read the reports. You left the cave in Bludhaven for New Camford. While I believe that the change of scenery from the grunge of Bludhaven to the arts and craft of New Camford is a welcoming one, I must believe that you did this for the job."

Richard sat on a bar stool at the breakfast bar. "I did. Found Killer Moth."

"You did? Then I guess it was a trip well worth it." Richard released a long exasperated breath. "Unless something happened."

Richard shook his head. The loyal butler had no idea just how big of an understatement that was. New Camford was indeed a new environment with characters only seen there. But, the one person that stayed on Richard's mind was the gun-slinging anti-hero in yellow.

Hornet was not an easy guy to pin down. For the most part, Richard saw Hornet as someone that Nightwing would have to put away. There was no doubt that Batman would have done so on the first night, the night that Richard actually saw him shoot a man in the legs to get answers. Now Richard was helping a known murderer and was at odds with himself.

"Master Richard," Alfred gained the teen's attention. "Is everything alright? You seem a bit contemplative at the moment."

Richard sighed. "It's nothing Alfred. I just… I just have a lot to deal with."

"Ah, yes, I see," Alfred's voice was, as it always was, filled with a limitless amount of insight. "I take it that this has something to do with your trip to New Camford. Maybe a revelation of sorts?"

"Yeah… A revelation…" Richard mumbled.

His time in Bludhaven had given him a revelation of sorts. Being friendly with the bad guys only got you so far. There was a time that being feared was actually a good thing. Then again, it was not the fear factor that he questioned. It was _how_ one achieved that fear factor. And Hornet used death and guns to obtain that fear factor. It would work in Bludhaven. It works in New Camford. And Richard was certain it would work in Gotham as well.

But murder was murder.

Alfred sat a plate full of food in front of Richard.

"You know," Alfred said. "When you think like that, you bear a striking resemblance to Master Bruce."

Richard snapped out of his thoughts. "What?"

"I figured that that would get your attention." Alfred said with a taunting gleam in his eyes. "You seemed distracted. I take it that your time in New Camford and/or Bludhaven is the reason behind this. Whatever it is, you know that I am here right?"

Richard nodded. It was not like he did not know that Alfred was there; both the literal and figurative senses of the word. Yet there was something inside of Richard that constantly told him to keep this with himself. If Alfred knew that he was aiding a murderer then things between them would be different.

It wasn't like Batman worked with murderers.

Well… Maybe he did? Maybe Batman allied himself with known criminals from time to time to solve a common and larger problem? It wasn't like Robin was _always_ with Batman to know. And those times when a criminal was nearby, it was normally in the form of a thief in a skin-tight leather catsuit.

"Bludhaven… It was more than I thought." Richard stated. "It's worse than Gotham down there."

"True. But I don't think that that is what is bothering you, sir." replied Alfred.

Damn him and his insight.

"I met the Hornet." Richard blurted out.

"Ah," It was all that Alfred could say at the moment and Richard knew why. If any of the news from New Camford made its way down to Gotham City, then Alfred knew all about the gun-slinging Yellow Jacket. "I saw him save you from a restaurant in New Camford. What was it called again?"

"Mylos and-"

"And the guy he shot later died in the hospital." Bruce's arrival did nothing to help Richard's mood. The two had not spoken since he left and Richard was doing all in his power to keep that record going. "I heard you applied to an academy in Jump City. If you're going to go out there while maintaining presence in Bludhaven, you're going to need transportation."

"I got it." Richard darkly shot back.

Then he laughed, catching Bruce and Alfred off guards. While they had no idea why Richard was laughing, the teen had to find it funny that he sounded _just like_ Hornet now.

"I got it," Richard restated in a lighter tone. "I just needed some time to rest. I'm working on something."

Bruce released a thoughtful hum. "I see. Is Barbara helping you with this?"

"No." answered Richard.

"Because _he's_ helping you, isn't he?" Richard kept quiet, now putting his attention to his breakfast. In his mind, he really did not owe Bruce an explanation. "I've heard the reports. He's dangerous. The incident at Kacey One. The people that died-"

"Nice to know that you care that _I_ didn't die. The missile was aimed at me." snidely commented Richard.

"Dick-"

"This is _my_ mission. I don't need you to interfere in it." Richard said. "Besides, doesn't Catwoman have some more important information to give you? I'm sure the Penguin is looking at something she wants to steal."

The two pair of blue eyes stared at one another. Richard was not going to back down this time though. He had enough nights wondering all the "what-ifs" and if he could have stopped Blackmask and the other criminals from escaping Blackgate. The teen was done with being haunted by all the men, women, and children who lost their lives during the break-out and subsequent murders from the escapees.

Bruce, oddly, concedes. "Fine. I won't interfere. _Unless_ , I feel as if it has become too big for you. I know that Killer Moth went up to New Camford to make a deal and I know that your incident at Kacey One connects to that deal. But if I find out that Moth's contact is too dangerous, I pull the plug."

Richard hopped off of the stool and picked up his plate.

"You're not my dad." The teen muttered before taking his plate and leaving the kitchen.

Alfred released a breath of exasperation as Richard left.

"It seems that he still believes that you treasure Miss Kyle over him," Alfred stated. "You should try to reach out to him before the worst can happen."

"I've been monitoring most of his actions. Clark has offered to help as well."

"Ah… That's why he went down to Metropolis." Bruce nodded at Alfred's words. "So what has him back in Gotham?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to find out." Bruce stated. "Whether he wants me to or not."

"Master Bruce, wouldn't it be easier-"

"In order for me to appreciate you, I had to believe I had no one else." Bruce interfered. "I'm going to let Dick think he's alone. Eventually, he will return to us."

"Don't you mean you?"

"Yes. He will return home."

* * *

Eli had no idea just who Barbara Gordon was until now. She was not just a nerd as he assumed. She had her moments of being fun to be around, laughing and cracking jokes about this or that. Eli found it highly amusing when she would say a joke that actually went over his head and she, whilst laughing, would have to explain it to him. Those jokes were never that funny to him but to see her attempt to calm down to explain it to him was humorous.

In the end, Eli found that time out of costume and not stuck either dodging George or keeping Hannah and Jade from killing one another (more like Jade killing Hannah) was exactly what he needed. Barbara seemed to keep his mind completely focused on everything except Killer Moth or Tobias Whale or Holocaust.

"I can't believe that you took me here."

Eli did not answer Barbara, just giving her a sly smirk as she allowed him to pull her through the closed Amusement Mile. There were people here; even a few vendors opened selling an assortment of carnival foods.

"We could've crossed over to Metropolis if the movie would've let out earlier," Eli responded. "Besides, I wanted to come back here after it shut down. Kind of makes me think of happier times with my dad."

Barbara, now walking next to the taller male, smiled.

"Too bad all of the rides were shut down. I remember as a kid, I would ride the Ferris wheel to see if I could spot all the islands. I never could." recounted Barbara. "My dad would show me how to shoot at the duck hunting booth. My mom would take me to go get my face painted."

Eli took in a deep breath. "I used to hate the clowns."

"I'm so over clowns now." Barbara joked with an eye roll. "I think the Joker put us all off of clowns forever."

"Wouldn't know. That kind of news doesn't make it to New Camford often." Eli responded. "Up there, Joker doesn't kill people like the average guy does. No name thugs with guns run up and shoot either some wannabe hero or a bystander watching."

Barbara glanced at Eli. "And you? How do you view this new type of crime? Hooded and masked men and women killing and robbing everything in sight, what do you think about it?"

"I think that, in some light, there isn't a real right or wrong. Even if you were to go by some religious code, there is another religion to counter your beliefs." Eli said, his eyes looking upwards at the sky as the pair walked. "They believe that whatever they are doing, they are justified. They are right. The so-called 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' they're all right."

Barbara frowned in thought. "That's… Not what I expected."

"The guys that killed my dad. To them, they had a reason. He wasn't just some random hit. It was planned and it was carried out." explained Eli. "The guys that my dad may or may have not killed in Qurac when he was stationed there, they were apparently 'enemies of the state' and my dad did what he thought was right for our country. Murder either way you slice it, right?"

"I guess…" Barbara thoughtfully replied.

"So the way I see it," Eli continued. "By law, there is a right and a wrong. But then when we see the morality of it… Nightwing beating the hell out of people for information is no different from gangs beating on a rival gang member on their turf. It just depends on which side of the fist you're on."

Barbara kept quiet as she digested the words. He had a point, a valid point. But she would not expect someone who had never dawn a mask and cape to know the thin line between justice and vengeance and good and evil. Sometimes to do good, one had to go dangerously close to that line between light and dark.

Eli had similar yet different thoughts. He believed that Barbara could only see things through a cop's perspective via her dad. He saw things through a hood and a mask with guns. If he pointed his guns at a clerk, he's a criminal. If he pointed it at the guy robbing said clerk, he's a hero. Either way, he was pointing a gun at someone without a badge and it was, overall, wrong. The only thing that made it right was Eli's belief that he was doing right.

"You sound like someone who has seen this happen before. Someone doing the wrong thing and thinking it is right, that is." Barbara stated quietly.

Eli chuckled lightly. "Yeah, well, I just fought two guys because they wanted to beat my younger brother. Sam used the "N" word and they overreacted." Eli sighed. "Sam thought he was right for using a word that someone used on him first. They thought that they were right for stopping a so-called 'white boy' from using that word in a black neighborhood. And I thought I was in the right for defending some loudmouth eight-year-old who is lucky we share the same mom. In the end, we're all wrong."

"Well," Barbara replied. "I think you were being a hero- a true hero that is. You saved him from being hurt. And even if you see it as him deserving of the pain, you prevented it." Barbara gave Eli a smile. "You're a hero."

"Too much responsibility for my taste." joked Eli as the two approached a man doing card tricks.

"Come one, come all!" the magician said as Eli and Barbara neared him. "You there! Pick a card, any card, and be amaze!"

Eli's eyes narrowed as he played along. He had been spent nearly two months learning sleight of hand and stage magic. He was working on his escapes, but card tricks were becoming a thing of the past. If this guy thought he was going to be fooled then he had another thing coming.

"Fine," Eli said paying the man first before looking at the cards being spread in front of him. "But what do I get if you can't pick my card?"

"A refund. But I always pick the right card." Eli just snorted. "What's the problem? You think that you can outsmart me?"

Eli paused in his reach. "Assuming that I care, right?" Eli looked at Barbara. "Do you believe in magic Barbara?"

"More or less," answered the redhead. She had seen Zatanna before but she was sure that Eli was not referring to that type of magic. "Do you?"

Eli held a card to her. It was the three of clubs. Barbara memorized the card, as she did most of the things in her life, before Eli replaced the card in the deck. Barbara had no idea why Eli was standing as if he had just gotten away with something but said nothing. She just watched her date fold his arms and prepared to be impress.

"Now," the man said eying Barbara. "What's your birthday sweetie? You're apparently a better audience than your boyfriend here."

"The twenty-third of September." stated Barbara.

Eli watched the trick carefully as the man pretended that the numbers "9" and "23" were needed for the trick. They were not. In fact, Eli had seen the guy mark what he assumed was the card Eli put back in the deck with his thumb the entire time. It was out of sight to Barbara but clear as day to the teen who had learned a similar trick weeks ago.

"Is this your card?" The magician revealed a card to Barbara with a smile on his face.

Barbara looked at it. Nine of hearts.

"No." Barbara honestly said.

The man frowned. "What?" He flipped the next card over. "Then how about this?"

Ace of diamonds.

"Nope." Barbara said.

The man eyed Eli. "Alright kid, what the hell?"

"May I?" Eli asked. The street performer nearly threw his deck of cards at Eli who calmly shuffled them. "The card that I plucked was the three of clubs. Got that? Three of clubs."

"Yeah, yeah," the man sour retorted. "Just give me my cards back and…"

Barbara stared in shock as, being held in front of her at the bottom of the deck, was the three of clubs. Eli's face had a look of sureness on it that could only be matched up to the stone-cold cockiness of Batman whenever the Dark Knight had prevented some elaborate scheme to destroy Gotham. And then Eli simply handed the deck to the street performer and put his hands in his pants pockets.

"Thanks for the trick." Eli said taking a few steps away. "Coming Barbara?"

Barbara was stunned as she followed behind him.

"How'd you do that?" Now Eli smirked as he looked at her, going from Batman to Robin in five seconds.

"A magician never reveals his secrets, Barbara," Eli told her. "Besides, if I did reveal it, it would take away the magic, wouldn't it?"

"I guess…" Barbara said, downhearted that she had missed it. If Batman had been here and saw that she had missed this then she would have to endure another lecture about paying close attention to such things.

Eli noticed the slightly dejected look on Barbara's face which oddly took him back to his childhood. Instead of seeing a saddened expression, he saw the uninterested and deterred look that Leila had whenever Nick did tricks such as those. Leila always hated Nick's tricks.

"The House of Mirrors is still up?" Eli questioned.

Barbara paused in her step and saw the tent that Eli was currently eying. It was off-limits, as were much of the old attractions still standing were. Yet something told her that Eli did not care. And Barbara was all too willing to follow.

"You know," said Barbara. "This would be the first date that I've broken three laws on."

Eli smiled. "I'm not the best influence."

"Oh, I know," Barbara said as she took his hand. "But like I said, I have a knack for the bad boys."

Eli let her pull him towards the large House of Mirrors, sneaking under the caution tape in front of it. Again, he was just learning who Barbara Gordon was and he was growing to like her more and more. Their beliefs in costume vigilantes were different but they had common ground on their choices of leisure. The obvious black and white or boy and girl lines between them were long forgotten, let alone the differences in their geographical upbringings. There was just Eli Jackson and Barbara Gordon.

And for now, that was all that was needed.

* * *

Hours later, Eli felt his heart racing while contemplating on a possible reason Malcolm ran around as someone called the "Army Ant." The boy had concluded that loved ones could be the reason. His day of running around the northern-east parts of Gotham City with Barbara made him think of that. Maybe his dad went out every night to make sure Leila and Eli were safe from whatever that was out there. Maybe Army Ant followed the two when they least suspected it, beating off would be muggers or worse.

The teen shook his hooded head. That made little sense. If Malcolm had seen half the things that George had dragged Eli to, there would be no way that Malcolm was buried without some punishment.

"Maybe his death _was_ my punishment…" Eli mused to himself as he looked over number of warehouses that lined what was known as Cape Carmine.

It was somewhere past ten at night and Eli had left Barbara hours ago to return to his aunt's apartment. Upon arrival, he had lied to his aunt and cousin and said that he was meeting up with Barbara again. This allowed him to find the hotel Jade was staying at and, after switching into costume, allowed him to scour the area as the Hornet.

Eli listened carefully. He already knew the differences between his hometown and his father's, but now he was seeing similarities. Sure Gotham City had more crime- it housed more people to commit more crimes- but the crimes were all about the same. A random robbery. A cry for help to prevent potential rape/theft. A few gunshots here and there. And of course, the random wannabe masked villain.

The one thing that New Camford did not have was a giant bat signal being shined into the night sky. It made Eli more than nervous as he had no idea just how the Batman would approach him- _if_ the two should meet. Would Batman fly in? Would he just appear out of the darkness? Eli was unsure and it was making this job harder.

What was his job exactly? Well, after nights of studying, reading, and researching, Eli had finally found out where the Mozgov and Sullivan families liked to meet. His plan was rather simple: Take the Sullivan Family out while he was in Gotham City and then slowly dissect the Mozgov in New Camford. Eventually, they would be no more and he would have avenged his father.

An old rundown white Dodge van sputtered to a stop right in front of the gates. The Hornet was already in the actual shipyard, waiting patiently, as the heavily bearded driver got out of the van and pushed open the entrance gate.

Even from Eli's hidden spot on a nearby rooftop, he could tell that the man was young- probably no older than thirty. Then again, with the goggles that covered his eyes, there was not much that Eli could not see in day or night.

The man returned to his van and drove on, none the wiser of the vigilante currently stalking his movements. He parked in front of the very building that Eli was hidden atop of and left the van. He walked inside where four other members of the Sullivan Family resided.

"Oy, Crowler! Get in here!" A large wooly man bellowed with a bottle of beer in his left hand.

The young redhead driver who had just entered waved at the others.

"Sorry 'bout bein' late an' all. Me mum was pissin' 'bout some whanker she met." The young man, Crowler, spoke with a thick English accent.

A thin bald man guffawed. "Bwahaha! I'd like to be the whanker she wanks!"

"Oy! That's me mum ya gummin' about!" Crowler retorted.

The five men shared a loud laugh before going on about the latest boxing matches. Their conversation went on for minutes until a car alarm alerted them of something outside.

"Rory, Chumly, go see who's out there." The large wooly man ordered.

The thin bald man, Rory, and a tanned man walked out of the warehouse.

"Hey Kingsly," Crowler said. "Think it's those Sicilian punks?"

Kingsly sat his beer on a wooden box. "Nay. Bertinelli ain't the type."

The lights of the warehouse went out, blanketing the area in darkness. Kingsly stroked his graying black bushy beard as he looked around. His beady blue eyes attempted to spot the culprit for this event and then make the punk pay.

The powerhouse of the Sullivan Crime Family took a moment to list all the possible people behind this event. Of course, mysterious darkness and sneak attacks were something Batman, _and_ that Azrael guy, were known for. Though he tried to steer clear of those kinds of guys, it would not be strange that one of the main family members had pissed off one of the heroes of the city.

Or it could be a rivaling group. Black Mask was not known for his respect, though he was big on preaching it. Well, respect and fear. But hiring some hitman to send a message was right up Black Mask's alley and Kingsly was well aware of that.

"Oy, those lads have been out there for a while now. Think they okay?" Crowler whispered as he crept towards Kingsly.

The large Kingsly growled. "No. Whoever is here has probably got them."

A shattered window in the building caught the remaining three men's attention. They could not see what window was broken but knew that someone was breaking in, not out. This made Kingsly reveal a small pistol that he kept in his pants, held by his belt.

"Find 'em." The large man ordered.

Crowler was not too adept at using a gun. In fact, he had never even used one before. HIs job as a driver meant that everyone else had to shoot while he just made sure that got away. It was simple. Now, he was debating that this was not so simple and his skill at the firing range should grow, or at least begin.

But he had to shoot now.

The young man of twenty-two crept around the aisle of crates as his two companions did the same. The warehouse was not the largest on the peninsula. It was normally used for meetings and such for the Sullivan Family and, during occasion, a spot to hold weapons until they were distributed. Tonight, most of the crates here were empty and they were not expecting another shipment for a few weeks.

"Fucking hell!" Crowler heard before a crash came next.

"What?" the driver looked around, seeing nothing but boxes and the moonlight coming from the skylights above. "M-Marty? Kingsly?" Neither of his two comrades responded. "Holy fuck…"

"You think you scare me you fucking- Ugh!" Kingsly's words were cut short by someone or _something_ that Crowler could not see from his position.

And then there was silence. The car alarm was off. There were no footsteps or ruckus laughter from Kingsly. The only two things Crowler could hear were his heart beats and his labored breaths.

"I… I know you're there!" Crowler said, gripping his small firearm with both shaky hands. "I… I'll blast your face off, yeah!"

The deafening silence caused Crowler to back up slowly. Living in Gotham and having the "family business" that he had, Francis Crowler II was no stranger to the rumors of the Batman. The man was supposedly brutal, without killing, and could find any member of any crime family at any time during the night. And this silence was something that all Batman stories have; eerie silence.

Crowler spun around. He was now in a clearing of the boxes, able to see the table that Kingsly was previously at, both exits, and two rows of crates. He could see most of the warehouse…

Including the shadowy gunman coming from the aisle that he was previously on. Crowler quickly aimed his gun, seeing the person with a gun of his own, and fired shot after shot. The body fell, revealing it to be Kingsly with his hands zip-tied at the wrists, a gun zip-tied between his hands, and his mouth muffled by a pair of socks.

"Fuck me!" Crowler exclaimed upon seeing his bleeding friend on the cold floor. Crowler dropped his gun and ran to the man. "Don't be dead on me! I don't know what-"

A knee to the jaw caused Crowler to tumble left. His attacker did not allow him to regain his bearings, pouncing onto him with punch after punch. The young man could barely make out the attacker. The yellow mask was different, covering the entirety of the mysterious guy's head and face. The only clear feature was those pitch black goggles glaring down at him.

After what seemed like an eternity of punches, the attacker stepped away. Crowler was flipped onto his stomach, his arms wrenched behind him, and then he felt his wrists being tied roughly together by a zip-tie and then was kicked onto his side.

"Army Ant," A deep, distorted voice rang out. "Tell me why you guys targeted him."

"I don't know! I…" Two pistols to his face had Crowler stopping his response. "I m-mean I… I d-don't know much!"

Hornet removed his weapons from the man's face and squatted so that their faces were closer.

"Tell me everything that you know or else." Hornet barked.

Crolwer fidgeted. "There was this guy, a bloody random in a bar. He told us about some bloke from New Camford- Miles something." Eli growled, striking more fear into Crowler. "We were there with some of the Mozzies!"

"The Mozgov Family?"

"Aye! The Russians!" Crowler continued. "They sent a man, s-s-some guy named the Hound! He found Army Ant! I swear!"

Eli stood there in his squatted position and thought. Someone knew that Malcolm was the Army Ant and revealed his identity to the Mozgov Family. The Sullivan Family had little to nothing to do with it, apparently, which made him feel a little bad about the three dead in and around the warehouse. Now he had to find someone within the Mozgov Family to find out where to find this "Hound" character and make sure that his next kill was him.

"Stay put," Hornet demanded as he rose to his full height. "Help will come and get you soon." Hornet paused and pulled his hood over his head. "And if I find out that you're lying, I will find you again."

Crowler watched the vigilante hold up his right arm, a grappling hook seemingly firing with a mental command before launching the hooded vigilante through the glass sunlight on the roof. Crowler lied there beaten and bound with one thought repeating in his head over and over.

Who was that guy?

* * *

Jade despised when there was a problem that she could not actually spot so she could solve it. Problems were, by nature, annoying at the very least, but none were as annoying as those problems that she could not point out. It was as if someone was holding up a replica of a painting and telling her that it was a fake without her being able to spot out the small subtle differences. There was something wrong or different and she could not find it.

So here she was, sitting on one of the two beds in her hotel room, trying to find out the problem with Eli.

When he had arrived, he came through her window in costume. The fact that he had even learned how to do that without setting off every alarm in the building was astonishing. Then he grabbed his clothes from earlier and went into the bathroom to shower and change. He had offered her a glance before closing the door, a look she promptly registered as a "I'll tell you later" look. Though that did nothing to point her in the right direction.

Jade ruled out what he could have done or what could have pissed him off. His cell phone was left in his bag alone so he could not have spoken to his mom during the last few hours. He was here and relatively okay so she doubts that he ran into Batman or Joker or someone like that. The small specks of red on his yellow jacket told her that he got into a fight either with fists or guns and he had walked away from, possibly victorious.

Jade then thought that he was not mad, just tired. That was always a possibility and Eli was as cranky as they come when his sleep was interrupted. The train offered a decent sleep at best though not enough to make up for the weeks of early morning training and late night patrols. Tonight could have been just a reminder of how tired he was?

Eli finally came out of the bathroom, dressed in the collared tee shirt and jean shorts from earlier. His duffle bag with his costume in it was draped over his left shoulder and he had a noticeable cut above his top lip.

"You didn't hear anything, did you?" asked Eli.

Jade gave a frown. "Should I?" Eli shrugged and made his way to the offered bed and sat his bag on the floor before climbing on the empty bed. "What did you do?"

"I went looking for this Hound character." Jade's frown grew as Eli turned on his side, turning to face her completely. "The guy that killed my dad was hired by the Mozgov Family. And, from what I know, they figured out who he was before doing it."

"Ah," Jade responded. "So how many people did you kill tonight?"

Eli swallowed. "Five. Six if you count the guy I sent to get shot by his friend." He then sighed. "Though, now, it doesn't even register in my head that they're dying."

"Yeah it is. I can see it." Eli did not argue. Killing someone was something that he had heard from Eric time and time again though Eli always doubted that the SRC leader had actually done it. Doing it himself was something eating away at his conscious at night. "So are you staying here tonight?"

Eli shrugged again. "Don't know. Haven't checked my missed calls." Eli gave Jade a small glance which she shook her head, answering his silent question. "Great… I just hope Barbara didn't try to call."

"Aw! That's sweet! Miss your girlfriend already?" teased Jade with a smirk. Eli ignored her, rolling onto his back with an eye roll. "So… You kill the guy after your dad and then what?"

"I still have to figure out why he did it." Eli responded. "I'll find Bookworm just to end that mission of his. And then I go on with my life."

Jade had not expected that answer honestly. Ben had mentioned just how desperately New Camford needed one of those masked heroes and Eli seemed to fit the bill too well. The girl had heard the kids in Cheshire Square all pretending to be Batman or Superman with the kid that wanted to be different proudly scream out, "I'm Yellow Jacket!" While Jade was not one to give false hope she would be stupid to ignore the fact that Eli _was_ hope for the city.

"You have to stop me." Jade pointed out. Eli turned his head to gaze at her bemused face. "You did promise Ben."

Eli released a heavy breath. "I guess you're right."

" _And_ there's Tobias Whale." Now Eli waved her off.

"Nightwing and Captain Red can handle that. After you, I'm done." Eli said before lacing his fingers beneath his head. "I'm not a hero Jade. I told you that."

" _Yet_ ," Jade corrected as she unfolded her legs and stretched them out in front of her. "You're not a hero _yet_. Though, I know a couple of people who would think otherwise." Eli snorted. "Like it or not, people look up to you now. I think it's the jacket but who knows?"

Eli smirked with his eyes closed now.

"Don't be a hero Jade. They don't last long in New Camford." Eli remarked.

Jade made an agreeing sound while she just stared at the boy in the other bed. There was something amiss here and she still had no idea just what it was. That was going to bother her all night with Eli lying there. But, she figured that if something was beyond comprehension for Eli, he would undoubtedly ask for her help.

For now, Jade just relaxed in her bed. Tomorrow she had some "investigating" of her own that she had to do for Ben's sake and then she could focus on whatever hell Eli had dug up. Who knows? Maybe it would be worth the trip?

* * *

Quiet footsteps were barely audible as the duo looked around the area. There were men viciously beaten, one shot and killed, lying within the destroyed apartment. The earthly smell of marijuana filled the air as well as something being burned.

"Who could have done this?" the redhead asked her friend who had joined her for the night.

Nightwing remained quiet. The neighbor below had called about loud noises and such, which drew the cops' attention. Normally that would not register on Nightwing's radar until the address popped up as a place he had to look into for possible connections with Killer Moth and the Sullivan Family.

The GCPD and medical there allowed the two vigilantes to do whatever with belief that they would relay the message to Batman. They were also, in Richard's opinion, ruining the crime scene that he was trying to study.

"He's mad, I tell ya!" one of the injured shouted as he was being handcuffed. "Fucking mad!"

Nightwing saw the arresting officer lift the shouting man to his feet, walking him towards the door. Nightwing followed, motioning Batgirl to do the same.

"'He?' He who?" Nightwing asked the arrested man as they walked onto the paved walkway outside the apartment.

"The Jacket… The fucking Yellow Jacket is here!"

Nightwing blinked in bewilderment, ignoring Batgirl's follow-up questions. If this was Hornet's doings then that meant that Hornet knew about Killer Moth's deals _before_ Richard did. Not only that, but he had gotten his information and left before the combined efforts of Batgirl and Nightwing even arrived.

Though one thing was for sure. Hornet was here in Gotham City for some reason.

"Wait a minute," Nightwing called out to the officer who had taken the arrested screaming man to his car. "One more question," Nightwing approached the handcuffed man. "You're alive so you must've talked. What did you tell him?"

The guy seemed to grow quiet for a moment before releasing a sigh.

"He came for the Hound, a hit-man for the Sullivan Family." The man gave Nightwing a frightened look. "He's with Black Mask, I know it! He's going to take us all out! You gotta stop him or else!"

Nightwing took in a deep breath. Hornet was reckless to say the least and he had little to no care about those he hurt along the way. Or so, it seemed. Richard knew that whoever it was behind the Hornet mask cared enough to keep people out of harm's way when it can be helped. It was hard to actually defend Hornet's actions as murder was never okay by Nightwing. Still, it was hard to argue against the results of his interrogations.

Then again…

Richard had spent time in Bludhaven. The restraint that Batman showed in Gotham City worked in Gotham City, not necessarily Bludhaven and not New Camford. The Hornet's tactics as grim and undesirable as they were worked and he knew how to target the best person to do it on. Nightwing could agree with the actual process, but the results… The results were damn well impressive.

Batgirl was a little confused when Nightwing simply walked away and jogged to catch him. When he aimed a grappling hook upwards and fired, she hurriedly repeated his actions to keep up with the prodigal son of the Bat.

"What was that?" Barbara asked.

Richard shook his head. "Don't worry about it." Barbara gave him a leveled "Not a chance" stare. "Fine. The Yellow Jacket from New Camford is here and he… Well, he's been helping me with Killer Moth."

Barbara blinked. "What? Does Bruce know you've been working with a murderer?"

"Of course he does. He knew before I had a chance to tell him." spat the male teenager. "And I didn't say I condoned everything he does, did I? I said he was helping me with tracking and finding Killer Moth and, apparently, he hit a lead."

"It doesn't sound like you're _against_ his methods," Barbara quipped with her arms folded. "So why are you actually working with him if you know that he's killing people?"

"Well- I- Look," Richard finally settled. "Green Arrow has killed people before- and Black Canary. Does that stop the way you look at them?" Barbara's eyes narrowed into a spot on replica of the Batman glare. "Like I said, I'm not heralding the guy as the greatest in the world. I'm just saying that I needed help and I got it into someone I can trust."

"He's running around with guns killing people. Just how can you trust that?"

Nightwing smiled. "Everyone is afraid of a masked guy with guns, regardless of what suit he wears." Batgirl grunted before unfolding her arms, seeing as his friend had a valid point. "Come on. We're not going to find him like this."

"And what do we do when we find him?" questioned Batgirl.

"We do our jobs." Nightwing answered. "Now come on. We still have some moonlight to kill."

Barbara followed her friend despite knowing that something was amiss here. She had not heard much about this Yellow Jacket character as she did not follow local news from Connecticut. Judging from what had happened tonight, the apartment and the warehouse, she could safely assume that there were some serious anger issues with the guy _or_ he just like shooting people for the hell of it. Either way, Richard knew the guy for however long that he did and had okayed him, which is what worried Barbara. There was no way that Richard- _Robin_ \- would condone killing of any nature; accidental or not from a hero or otherwise. Yet, Nightwing appeared to be a cohort, though a reluctant one, of Yellow Jacket's methods.

Something was definitely up.

As for Richard, he kept an eye open for anything that remotely looked like Hornet's person. He had already ruled out giving Hornet another speech about killing and just get right down to business- no need to waste his breath, right? If the New Camford native was here then there was a very valid reason and it was not just to stop by and say hello. He came for a target, apparently this Hound character, and he would be hell-bent on finding him. Nightwing knew that Hornet would, eventually, find out what he wanted and possibly get what he wanted by tomorrow night, _if_ the guy worked as hard as Richard thought. At the moment, he could only do one logical thing…

Pray for whatever sorry bastard came up in Hornet's crosshairs.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** So, I'm going to push back Arkham Rising for the reason that I was hospitalized for the last two weeks over a allergic reaction to ant bites. The dizziness that those small bastards can induce... It's really something I don't wish on anyone. Anyway, I haven't been able to work on this or any other stories at all. That being said, Eli and Sora will have another month or two of shine before Jake returns with the final two arcs of Arkham Rising.

Onto this story. Eli is closed to hunting down the Mozgov Family members behind his father's murder and will learn more about the mystery guy who learned/revealed Army Ant's identity. A bit of a spoiler though, _that_ guy will be the main villain for this story and is an OC who is literally the answer to most things that happen in New Camford. Barbara/Batgirl will play a role to Eli's character growth while (spoiler again!) Nightwing will eventually assemble some people to form a particular group.

Next chapter will definitely be a review corner for this story so if you have any questions, comments, or thoughts that you'd like to share, send a PM or review and I will respond them then. Ciao.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Notes:** So, I think it's time for a review corner for this story. Before that, I want to thank you guys for actually following and reading this story. As I said in the very first chapter, this story will touch on a lot of touchy things that most writers on this site (and the world) will try to avoid unless they want the publicity. Given today's age and the problems plaguing us all, I want you all to know that I thought about watering down a lot of this but chose not to for the legitimacy of this story. Eli's character will have a far darker tone than Jake's- even with the whole "Venom" thing- and Sora's. I'm typing this because I just received my new laptop (FINALLY!) and I have spent many nights re-typing the outlines for Arkham Rising, The Markings of a Hero, Sora Gaiden, and the finale for Jake Cross and, after reading some of the things (political...smh...) that takes place in Eli's story, they were pretty upset. I want to say this to anyone who reads this. Freedom of speech is not limited to saying things that people like to hear. That being said, there will be times when your opponent will sling mud your way. You _can_ sink to those levels and throw mud back like our previous two presidential candidates or you can ignore them. This isn't a "Hillary should've won" kind of speech and it's not a "Make America Great Again" speech. And in truth, this has nothing to do with America. Eli's story will touch on some worldly frowned-upon issues and I'm giving this last warning that, if you are easily offended, please don't be that guy/girl who reads just to send a flame. Again, I can't tell you _not_ to do it because it's your right, it's your freedom, but I will point out that you'll do nothing but get me closer to a 100 reviews. That's all. My outline is set. My story(s) will go on. Thank you for reading this message and let's go on to some happier, probably spoiling, times. Oh! If you want to skip all of that, scroll down to the title or simply pop up your find (CTRL + F) and type in "Insecticide". Please enjoy and I"ll see you at the bottom for some more- and good- news.

 **Guest** on chapter 11 - It is understandable not to like the beginning three or so chapters of this story. The buildup is much different that Jake's stories which literally starts with the ending of a fight scene. The story becomes more darker as time goes on though not to the point of pure angst. Thanks for reading and hopefully these updates will come faster now that I have a laptop and an outline to work off of again.

 **Coldblue -** Where to actually begin? Kidding. Firstly, hi again, thanks for the reviews. Secondly, Captain Red and any hero/heroine that Eli meets in New Camford won't have a set life expectancy. Of course I know if or when they will die but it won't be hinted in any chapter because I find it more realistic in that way. But oddly I like Captain Red, or at least typing him that is. The conflict between Nightwing and Hornet will actually become very key to the forming of a very special and important groups of teenagers... You know, when you're in trouble who do you call sort of group? But there won't be any physical confrontations between the two sadly. This is mostly due to the fact that Gotham City will be their shared grounds but they both are sole heroes (sort of) in their own cities Nightwing in Bludhaven and Hornet in New Camford. But Eli's issue with the Bat-fam is something to look forward to. On that note, Barbara and Eli's relationship will get very complicated. Something to remember is that Jim Gordon is Commissioner and Leila Nolan is a corporate lawyer protecting big companies. Their paths will cross, Eli and Barbara will cross each other the wrong way, and Hornet and Batgirl will cross each other. As for Jade/Cheshire, she and Eli will eventually go from friends to sort of frenemies to siblings who squabble often. She will always look to Eli as one of the heroes that she respects and he will, at points, look away when he knows that she's killing someone he is either too busy to "talk to" himself or knows is for the betterment of his city. The two will actually grow closer when a certain red-wearing archer makes his appearance.

On to Eli's character and the questions you have regarding him directly. Eli and Jade will "borrow" any weapons that are confiscated by the pair. It will sort of add a comical relief to the story with Eli constantly trying new weapons with Nick constantly worrying about his livelihood. His gadgets will also take a bump upwards due to some "borrowing" but also from others who willingly give it to him. Yes, Eli will grow to be a more hardened version of the typical hero as his city requires it. There will be times where he will ultimately choose to walk away to show that he's not heartless, he just makes the harder decisions that normal vigilantes (like Nightwing) refuse to make. Eli will eventually learn more of his mother's background, and by extension, adapt some of the Bialyan ways. Also, never forget that Khandaq statement Jade made a few chapters back. That will come to play in the next story (sorry!). You are right about one thing in your suggestions- Nightwing's relationship with Hornet will be similar to Batman's with Huntress. A lot of Eli's character growth will be influenced by those around him. I want to make it so that just about every character (good, bad, or neutral) will leave a "mark" on him. All in all, Eli's character growth will be shown in and out of his heroic costume.

Finally, there are two sequels to this story, a trilogy similar to Jake's. I won't reveal much about them but I will say that the second one will be called "Swarm" and it will definitely involve Bialya, an underground fight league, and an entire colony of "bees". The third is untitled but is currently going to be centered around... Well, I'll leave that as a surprise. I will say that the last main "villain" will make an appearance somewhere in this story. Just keep an eye out.

 **Foxfan88 -** Hola amigo. Hornet will encounter several of other heroes, some real and others of my creation. As for Eli having his own Joker or Lex Luthor, Hornet will eventually adapt a "kill one, save millions" kind of mindset which pretty much eliminates a long-lasting villain. I won't say that he won't have people who constantly battles him- most will be heroes that find him to be dangerous. Though the main villain in this story will get pretty personal with Eli and have that Joker-feel to him without being a killer clown. I don't want to have Hornet fighting Batman only because that kind of repeats Jake's story a bit. Hornet will be a hero that Batman becomes reluctant to call upon but at some point they will have each other's respect. Remember, Eli is being trained by the Bronze Tiger, not necessarily Batman's best friend, right? Finally, Batgirl and Hornet will have an interesting talk in a few chapters to come so be on the look out. As always thanks for reading.

And done. Now for the long awaited chapter on the new laptop. Feels good just to say that! Here we go!

* * *

 **Chapter Warnings:** The following chapter is rated T for Teen due to language, violence, and mentioning of underage rape.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Twelve: Insecticide Pt. I

Mallory Saunders was one who gave off an "older sister" vibe every time she was out with her cousin. She could not help it though. She was pitted with Eli since her cousin was born and, because of such, she had always been quite protective over her baby cousin- even if he was an inch taller than her now. The fact that she had a little sister via her dad and other cousins on her father's side was normally moot and disregarded by the young woman. To her, Eli was the little brother she never had and that was a fact solidified with the add-on that his father, her uncle, had stepped in as a father figure when her dad was too busy chasing younger women.

That being said, it was not completely strange for her to watch her cousin as he slept on her mother's couch. Despite being just a year older than him, Mallory felt so much older than him due to how many times she had seen his once fat cheek puff into a pout when things did not go his way- especially at her. They had their fights, verbal and physical, and they had their moments when she literally wanted to throw him off of an available roof.

But he was still her baby cousin.

She studied him for all of two minutes before his eyes suddenly snapped open as if he was going to spring up and choke the daylights out of her… And then he just calmly closed them with a sigh, a breath that caused Mallory to relax as well.

"Is there reason that you're just standing over me?" His hoarse voice dripped with annoyance that seemed to be reserved for her. That meant, he was not as annoyed as seeing his mother yet still quite ticked.

"What happened to your lip?" Mallory pointed out in a low tone to keep the others in the house asleep at the early hour.

Eli touched his upper lip. "Some stupid little bastard thought he'd play the Knock-out Game with me. Didn't work out too well for him."

"So said your fists," Mallory noted the bruised knuckles on his right hand, bruises he was apparently disregarding as she put her hands on her hips. "Oh Elias, what am I going to do with you? You can't go out and beat on kids even if they deserve it."

Eli snorted. "Keep telling yourself that."

"You can't," said Mallory as she moved his legs to sit on the couch. "Because then you'd be a bully and the world would hate you and all that."

"I don't care about how the world feels about me." Eli admitted as he sat up on the couch, groaning at his tired body's displeasure to the new position. "And the kid had it coming to him. Bitch punched me for a damn game and when I didn't go down, thought he was going to do it again."

Mallory rolled her eyes. "Seriously Jacks, you never change, do you?"

There was a moment, a brief one, that Mallory saw the physical representation of Eli and Leila. The moment Eli cut her a sideways glance that bordered on a hateful glare, she could see nothing but a male version of her aunt seated beside her. Eli's eye shape was not as rounded as Mallory or anyone else from the Jackson family line. He had the narrow Rassan eyes, just like his mother.

And just like that, he looked away with a sigh, leaning back against the couch.

"So what are you doing up at seven? After James learned to shit the bed without crying, I thought you slept in at night." Eli dryly joked, a small smile coming onto his face.

"First off dumbass, all babies know how to shit the bed and most do so without crying. Secondly, he's three now. He doesn't do that anymore." Mallory said before swatting her cousin on his shoulder. "And that's my son, asshole!"

Eli chuckled. "Sorry Mal."

"When you and that Jade chick have kids, remember that I won't be babysitting them." Now it was Eli who gave a lazy eye-roll.

"For the last time, there's nothing going on between me and Jade. She's a friend-"

"Mm-hmm," interrupted Mallory. "I've heard this before. And I still believe that one day, _one day_ , you're going to be like 'oh Mal, I was so wrong. Jade's trying to suck my dick and I don't want to cheat on Barbara,' and I'll be like 'I told you so'!"

"Don't you think you need to prove me wrong about saying that you will never marry Bow Wow?" Eli teased.

Mallory smirked. "I still think I have a better chance than you and Beyoncé."

Eli just chuckled, closing his eyes as he did so. Now, he resembled his father- cool, calm, collected, and easy to approach. Most people would think that Eli and Malcolm were a bit unfriendly due to the way that they carried themselves or, in Malcolm's case, deep voice and large stature. That went double for Eli and his narrow-eyed glares.

"I took today off," Mallory announced. "So we can spend all day together, like we used to do."

"Don't you have a son that needs you? Don't be like your precious Aunt Leila." Eli returned, nearly spitting his mother's name. His eyes opened and cut to Mallory. "She won't be winning Greatest Mom of the Year anytime soon, I can vouch for that."

Mallory rolled her eyes with exasperation. "Jacks, I don't get you. You hate her when she's there. You hate her when she's not. Like damn, can the woman be happy?"

"She doesn't know what happy is." countered Eli. "She's a wreck, Mal. And this isn't me throwing my normal mom issues around. I can tell, you know? Like something is just off."

"Could it be her oldest son doing everything in his power to give her a giant 'fuck you' for everything she's done?" Mallory returned. Eli shrugged his shoulders. "You're here talking about how you worry about a woman you give hell on the daily. How in the hell do you expect her to react with you around her?"

Eli shook his head. "It's not that. It's like… I don't know. When we're outside and talking at night, it's like there's something she wants to tell me but she never does. And then I get mad, she gets made, and the next day, she reminds me that she's not apologizing for me getting mad."

"Aunt Leila is weird. Bialyans, I tell you…" Mallory stated.

"That's racist." commented Eli, only for his cousin to pinch his cheek.

"Aw! Did I hurt your wittle feewings?" Mallory cooed before Eli swatted her hand away. "Seriously Jacks, have you done _any_ research on your mom's country? I did my senior paper on it last year and was quite surprise to know what they had to go through."

Eli scoffed. "Right, because America is filled with unicorns that fart rainbows and nothing bad happens here."

"No, that's not what I'm saying," Mallory continued. "All I'm saying is that, when Aunt Leila said that there was a difference between Bialyan problem and an American problem, she was right. Did you know women couldn't go to school there until the nineties? How in the hell did she even get a degree?"

"I'd care more if Afghanistan didn't have similar problems." Eli stated. Mallory opened her mouth. "I'm not an idiot, Mal. I know some of the problems in the Middle East."

"You just don't care, do you?" Mallory questioned, her lips thinned while shaking her head.

"No, and to be honest, I'm honest enough to admit it aloud." Eli, now with a little more anger, said. "No one normally gives a damn until someone dies. And then they put this terrible spin on it with sick children and dying old women… Truth be told, you can see all of that here- Gotham especially."

"Hey!" Mallory chastised.

"All I'm saying is," said Eli in a quieter tone. "When we have a 'national epidemic' it's normally something that's been going on for hundreds of years and we want to make ourselves look like some sort of heroes. Then we put this stupid idea in people's heads that they are our equals, knowing damn well that they aren't. And truth be told, I hate that."

Mallory was unsure how to respond. Eli had never been the political type of guy, sports being the only thing the guy watched informative/news programs. However, the teen mother could tell that something had changed within her cousin. He seemed angry, angrier than normal that is. And that was a scary thing.

"Equality is something we need to fight for." Mallory cautiously said. "Not just within our own country, but the world."

"You don't believe that." Eli responded.

Mallory glowered at her cousin. "And why don't I?"

"Because we strive to be better. That's what my mom taught us, remember? We work our asses off to be better. Not just better than blacks or whites, not just better than those near us, and not just better than everyone else. We strive to be better than ourselves." Eli said. "We're not victims Mal, we're survivors."

Mallory smiled at the words. "Aunt Leila used to tell us that every time we got a cut or bruise."

"And I sure as hell don't want to be treated like a victim or a charity case to make all of us even." stated Eli, his tone now calm. "I understand that there needs to be a bottom line to how we treat each other, but there's no way that I should be compared to you as a parent when you've done it while going to school and working. That wouldn't be fair to you."

"And, I guess, it wouldn't be right to say that we're equals as athletes because, you know, beauty doesn't sweat." Mallory teased. Eli again released a quiet laugh, one that made Mallory relax momentarily. "You know Eli, I think you miss the days when you were a momma's boy and you had someone other than your dad to go home to."

"Don't-"

"No, listen to me," Mallory said. "I know how aggravating she can be. I got in trouble with you, remember? But do you know what else I remember? When she bought me a bike days after Christmas."

Eli's brows creased. "What are you talking about?"

"You were four and Josh-"

"Your dad?" Eli taunted with a smirk.

" _Him_ ," Mallory continued. "He had promised me a bike for Christmas. He said that he had talked to Santa and everything. And like the delusional child that I was, I believed him." Mallory exhaled heavily. "And then Christmas came and I waited for that bike to show up all day and was hit with a heavy dose of reality."

"Santa isn't real?" Eli questioned.

"No! Everyone knows he exists!" Mallory jokingly shot back. "What I really learned is that Joshua is a liar; always has been and always will be. But it was sometime after New Years that year that Aunt Leila came down for some job thing or another and when she came to visit, she took me out and bought me a bike."

Eli clicked his tongue. "Of course she did."

"All I'm saying is, your mom, regardless of where she lives or who she sleeps with, is a lot more dependable than Joshua. I'm not saying you're an asshole for not giving her a chance, because you were one when you were a bratty little kid throwing Cheerios at me." Eli smirked at the memory. "But, you'd be just as bad as my dad if you walk out of her life like he did me."

Eli sat quietly which made Mallory believe that she had him beat. And then her cousin simply shook his head and spoke one simple line,

"I didn't leave her. She left me. Period."

Mallory gave up then and there. Not because she lost, oh she was _far_ from losing this battle, but because it was early and she honestly did not want to start their day off with a serious argument. Eli loved Leila. That was something that Mallory did not debate or even doubt. But, Mallory knew when Eli felt guilty about something and attempted to put that guilt on someone else, and this was one of those times.

Eli watched as Mallory suddenly stood up, a smile on her face.

"C'mon little cousin, you're helping me with breakfast." Mallory quietly announced.

Eli frowned. "Since when did you learn to cook?" Mallory kicked his shin in response, gaining a pained laugh from him. "Damn Mal! I thought you said you _didn't_ play sports!"

Mallory smiled. "It's good to have you back Jacks."

"Anytime Mal." Eli replied with a smile of his own.

* * *

Batman's preparation was something that everyone noted. The man seemed to just know what to expect at every moment of the day. Yet, even though people knew of his readiness they did not know just how ready Batman was until he seemingly planned something years in advance and set event happened as he predicted.

It was literally the scariest thing about the man.

However, there were pros to this scary ability, such as the one Richard was currently using. In Bludhaven, the city the teenager was slowly coming to grasp as his new home, Bruce had set up a remote Batcave for reasons that Richard (as Robin) could not understand. It was hard to be Gotham's hero when he was saving the city to the south of it. Now Richard was pleased that he had his own personal cave, for the moment, and that he could work without having Bruce or Alfred over his shoulder twenty-four seven.

Richard sighed as he looked at the files that he had opened. All of them were what he could find surrounding the death of the Army Ant. Obviously, without knowing the man's real name- which was somehow quite impossible to find out- Richard could not just search the man and the day he died. Instead, the acrobat found a few articles that spoke on the Army Ant's death in hopes that it would shed light to the puzzling question: What was Army Ant to the Hornet?

That was a powerful question for many reasons. Richard knew that if he could figure that out then he could, not only work with the Yellow Jacket of New Camford better, but also understand the obvious grudge between Hornet and the Mozgov and Sullivan families.

Unfortunately, that would be easier if Richard knew just who Army Ant really was.

Sighing, Richard clicked an article from NexSquire Magazine, a popular news and entertainment publication in the New Ivy Metro area. It read:

 _Two weeks ago, New Camford lost another one of its heroes, this time in the form of the Army Ant. The hero was known for being in Downtown New Camford, more times than not helping those in need in when he came by, and was stated to being one of the "friendlier vigilantes'. Due to Connecticut's Vigilante Masked Death Act (the state's only law pro-vigilantism), I am not at liberty to reveal just who this apparent friendly vigilante was beneath the mask. Though, I must say, after hearing about him, I can say that Army Ant was indeed one of the good ones._

Richard's lips twisted as he quickly looked up the Vigilante Masked Death Act. Apparently, in the state of Connecticut, if vigilante (hero or criminal) were to be killed while considered "on vigilante duties" than the state must get permission from a next of kin to reveal said vigilante's personal records to the public and the death report is sealed. It is also known as the Terryl Darby Law due to the fact that Terryl Darby, one of the numerous men who became a hooded vigilante in the city, was killed after attempting to stop a gang fight and the gang members- who have all been listed as "gang affair" and thus falls outside of the Darby Law- went after his family members after their leader was arrested. Richard could understand why such a law existed but it really hindered his search.

The teen skimmed the article for more information as he continued to make a valid attempt on putting the Hornet and Army Ant together.

 _I tried to speak to those who knew Army Ant the best but those interviews were cut short for various reasons. I did, however, find a few who was able to share their thoughts on the man who attempted to make his city a safer place. Coincidentally, that man was another hero of the city that went by the name Captain Red._

 _"Army Ant was a true hero and a greater friend!" the Canadian born (or so he told me) boasted with a huge grin. "He has been able to provide help to me at the most critical moments! The city was lucky to have him!"_

Now Richard rolled his eyes. "This guy…"

 _Other citizens who had been saved by the deceased or just watched him in action said similar things. They said how he would sometimes approach a problem almost like a cop and attempt to dissolve a bad situation with words first and actions second. I was told that very seldom has those he has taken down seen a hospital for more than a few bumps and scrapes, being one of the gentler crime-fighters in the city._

 _I had a hard time believing that after seeing the size of the man._

Richard released another heavy breath of annoyance and skimmed the rest of the article. He was seconds away from closing it before his blue eyes tripped over a few words that made him backtrack.

 _…a game said to be played. The citizen requested to stay anonymous in this story but said that the "game" was started when a hero "answered the call". When I questioned the citizen how she knew and how it related to the Army Ant, she answered that her brother was once a hero in New Camford and he had "answer the call" before dying later to what seemed like a drug bust gone south. She also went on by stating that the Army Ant's death was very similar to her brother's, from the location to the style of the murder. She gave a warning that "the call of heroism" was best ignored in her city._

 _This has been my fourth time covering the death of a hero in New Camford, the third since the year began. I have no idea if there is a "game" being played by some mysterious unknown force or if people are just plain unlucky. The one thing I do know is a phrase that seemingly stems from the neighborhood known as Rhodes._

 _Don't be a hero in New Camford. They do not live long. Army Ant is a testament of that._

Richard's face slowly contorted into a frown. While the article provided very little information about the Army Ant's personal life thanks to the Terryl Darby Law, it did shed some light on the Army Ant's death. The man was murdered in front of people by a hit-man- the Hound he assumed- and that was that. But there was now another piece to this mystery. _If_ there was a "game" being played by some outside force then the Army Ant's death was not only predetermined but carried out by someone higher up than the Mozgov or Sullivan families. Richard knew for a fact that they were not necessarily the smartest or most dangerous groups out there.

The teen brushed his black hair back with a hand. There was probably some conspirator in New Camford going around killing heroes. If that was the case then Hornet, Captain Red, and the other heroes were in serious danger. And it was a danger that outweighed the burning question of who the Army Ant was to the Yellow Jacket.

It was then that Richard thought of something else that the Hornet said earlier. His fingers glided over the keyboard, typing in one name he did know.

Earl Clifford.

This was different. For starters, there were no laws in Delaware that protected heroes like the Vigilante Masked Death Act. Earl's files were public. Secondly, the information was near complete- or as complete as it could be. And the more Richard read, the angrier he became. The pictures did nothing to halter or stop his fuse either. A kid, an _innocent kid_ , was murdered by Tobias Whale and hung on a basketball hoop on display like a stuffed deer above a mantle. It was disgusting to say the least.

And now…

Richard leaned back in his chair. Now he understood what angered the Hornet so much, or at least he thought he did. Tobias Whale would walk away from his crime, even if Black Lightning had attempted to take him down earlier. The Army Ant's murder could never be fully investigated due to the law hindering anyone outside of law enforcement to get involve. There were families out there that would never get the answers that they were looking for, for one reason or another.

"Oh boy…" Richard stated as he glanced back up at the picture of Earl's deceased body. "Maybe you're right… Tobias deserves to go down. But…"

Richard could not bring himself to even believe that someone deserved to die, Tobias Whale or not. Hornet may not see that but human life, no matter how bad the person was, was a precious thing. It was not up for Richard or any other person to take said life away, regardless of what the law stated.

Though the topic caused Richard to do more research, this time of Hornet's activities and those the guy actually saved. The first was one that caught the young hero's eye.

The story was quite interesting. Two kids, ages seven and four, had been missing for two months within the city. According to reports, the children had been physically beaten and raped by three men, two brothers and a friend of theirs, before Hornet arrived. None of the men lived to tell the tale and in the end, the parents of the children (who were originally from Hub City) were contacted. The arriving officer described the killings of the men apparently quick and painless, gun shots through the heads and chests, but stated that Hornet stayed with the kids until the police arrived. Afterwards, the gunman apparently detailed how the children were separated from their parents at the beach, taken by the men, and what they endured, before leaving the scene altogether.

The last Grayson stood up from the computer, closing out the files that were up just in case Bruce came to find out what he was looking at. His mind had been made up on the Yellow Jacket of New Camford. Despite their difference in opinions and how they should approach certain situations, Hornet apparently cared for the safety of the people, as did Nightwing. And because of that one simple fact, Richard was more than confident enough to work with the mysterious gunman in taking down Tobias Whale.

Earl Clifford's and Army Ant's voices would not die just because they did. Justice would be served either through Nightwing taking them down or Hornet taking them out.

Hopefully it was the former…

* * *

Eli was not a fan of Mallory's over-protectiveness and her stubbornness, even though he could be blamed for both of those character attributes himself. He had to get to Jade's hotel room to look up information on the Hound. Instead, he was being hounded by his older cousin who had nothing better to do that day than be his personal tour guide of Gotham City.

The pair was currently at Mallory's apartment after returning from a walk to the nearby corner store where they purchased some chips and soda to bring home. It was the first time since the morning that Mallory had taken her eyes off of Eli, the teen mother now more focused on her son munching on Doritos at the small dining table.

"Chew with your mouth closed." Mallory said for the third time.

Eli smiled. Mallory did not use the same firmness in her voice on James that Leila used when correcting Eli. But that did not mean that his cousin was not as observant as his mom was. Mallory saw everything James did even when she was not looking at him.

"You did the same thing," Mallory's mother, Carla Jackson, said as she walked through the living room towards the kitchen, passing her grandson on the way.

"And you corrected me so I'm just continuing the lineage." Mallory replied.

Carla only scoffed softly. The woman had a darker skin tone than her daughter, as most of the Jackson family bar Eli and Mallory did. Eli's aunt kept her thick dark hair in dreadlocks, a key physical feature of her that had remained since her mid-teens. The woman was still in shape, her arms and legs displaying the former basketball and track athlete that she was in high school.

"So what have you two done that I will most likely hear when the cops show?" Carla joked as she washed her hands in the sink.

Mallory rolled her eyes. "Absolutely nothing. Jacks is still in his little mood and I wouldn't allow him to beat the guys staring at us at the store."

"You are your father's son alright…" Eli heard the quiet comment from his aunt and ignored it for a sip of his Pepsi. Instead, he chose to change the subject altogether.

"You never talked about Mama's roommate, Maria. Why?" asked Eli.

Carla turned to him with a smile. "Maria and I stopped talking a few years back. She's married some rich guy in Bristol and doesn't come down into the city much. I bet she still parties like she's back in college."

"She said that she tried to get Mama to the club a lot." Eli's words were met by a laugh from his aunt.

"She did more than try!" laughed Carla. "You don't know how many times she and I took your mom- who barely spoke English by the way- to a club in Bludhaven and use her to get free drinks! All the guys were so sprung over Leila and when she learned how things worked, she never trusted us at a bar again."

Eli smiled. That sounded like his mother. And after meeting the woman, he could picture Maria doing something like that in order to have a memorable, or at least fun, night.

Carla calmed down. "Your dad hated us for that too. He wouldn't let Lee out of his sight when she was around us."

"Maria said that Mama smoked." Eli competently lied.

"Aunt Leila smokes?" choked out Mallory.

"She did. She stopped after Miles came back from the army." stated Carla. "I take it that you're still giving her a hard time. I wish I could get you to stop but you are Lee's son and you'll do whatever it is you want to, no matter what I, or anyone else, says. I just hope you realize that you see how lucky you are."

Eli scoffed quietly. "How lucky am I? My dad gets killed playing hero and I'm stuck with a woman who attempted to walk out of my life. Doesn't sound very lucky to me."

"Well, I'm not going to sit here and list all the reasons you should be. If you want to be miserable, Eli, no one is going to stop you from being so." Carla stated. "Just know that I think you're being stupid. That's all."

"There's more to it than what-"

"You're being stupid. That is all Eli." Carla stated with more force in her voice. "Drop the conversation, _now_."

Eli bit the insides of his cheeks, glaring elsewhere. He found it funny how people always got on him for his problems with Leila when, in fact, it was her that left him in the first place. She left Malcolm for Robert and thought that she could buy Eli's love and affection. She was the one that always thought that every time she returned to the apartment nothing would change and that she could still boss Eli and his dad around as if she ran the place. And she sure as hell was the one starting these weird meetings that they have come accustomed to at nights.

After a minute of nothing but tension and silence, Eli rose and quickly left the apartment. Neither Carla nor Mallory attempted to stop him. It was obvious that the boy was still sore about his parents' split, even if it has been ten years since it happened. They understood though. Eli was quite attached to his mother up until that point.

"You know he's kind of right, don't you?" Mallory quietly said to her mom, who gave her a warning glare. "Aunt Leila may be in his life, but she's not in his life like she was. And he misses that. It's kind of like me and Joshua."

"Your dad?" mused Carla.

"Him," Mallory stated. "It hurts to realize that you put your hope in a false hero."

"I understand his feelings but that does not give him any reason to disrespect Leila." argued Carla. "If Leila wanted to leave Eli, or Miles for that matter, it would have been a lot easier for her to kick them out of her apartment instead of moving into a new house."

Mallory shrugged. "Depends. Her new husband had a nicer place. Why keep a stupid apartment?"

Carla sighed. "In another world, whatever got in-between Miles and Lee never existed. But the truth is that they kept things from me- he being some vigilante is one. Eli's problem isn't that they split, it's because he thinks he's alone and he's not."

"Well… He does come home to an empty apartment. Unless he's sneaking friends over in which I wouldn't know anything about that." Mallory said, the last part being said at a faster rate.

"So long as Leila Rassan breathes, that boy is never alone." said Carla. "She wouldn't have put that much attention into making him a female version of herself if she was just going to leave him alone." Carla turned her gaze upwards. "Lord knows that she succeeded."

"Ain't that the truth…" Mallory commented.

* * *

Jade was unsure what had put Eli in such a bad mood. Her normal guess was his mom, who was miles away in a different city. There were times that he was unhappy about how some girl named Brittany was being treated at the center he worked at. And, of course, there was the periodic gangster who got in the way of the business-always Yellow Jacket that could piss the teen off.

But none of those things had happened or could have had any effect on him, sans his mother who could have called.

"Are you going to stare?" Eli questioned from the unused bed in Jade's hotel room. He was seated against the headboard flushed against the wall, his laptop in his lap, a notebook on the bed to the right of him, and his brown eyes on Jade.

Jade shrugged her shoulders. "I figured that my first time alone in a hotel room with a really attractive guy would be somewhat… Memorable."

"Male prostitution is a thing. Maybe you could find one and pay him?" It was a rare thing for Eli to return a joke like that when he was working, an event that Jade was going to prolong.

"A threesome? Well isn't Barbara lucky to have such an outgoing boyfriend?" she joked.

Eli returned back to his work with a smile on his face. Jade just watched while lying on her side, facing him completely. She was curious about him to say the least. There was nothing physically extraordinary about Elias Jackson. Not to say that he was not handsome, which she found him above average in that department, but there was nothing physically that made him stand out in a crowd. Instead she found him to be intellectually cryptic and logically sound. He game planned a lot and took time to reason things in his head, even while on the move. She had literally seen him jump into a fray of men and take them out without a visible thought to save some children he did not know and then very slowly plot out how he was going to stop one of Whale's weapons delivery from being made.

Jade shifted a bit, her green eyes never moving from her target like a cat waiting for its mouse prey to poke its head out of a hole. Eli was not the best-looking guy she had met. He was not the tallest or most physically fit guy either. And while he was not the smartest guy either, his ability to spot the little details and build a case from there was pretty damn impressive for a guy in his rookie year in the vigilante line of work. Hell, it had impressed Ben.

Plus, Eli was a wizard and playing darts.

"I found him." Eli suddenly said. Jade cocked a brow at him, questioning who he had found. "The Hound. Goes to a bar in the Narrows."

Jade's lips pursed. "Like the Gotham Narrows or the Bludhaven Narrows?"

"Gotham," answered Eli. Jade released a groan. "What?"

"You do know that they have a problem with, not only outsiders, but heroes such as yourself, right? If you're going to go there, you're going to need back-up." Jade pointed out. "And I don't feel like being shot at for the sake of your family vengeance."

Eli gazed at Jade. "Nightwing's in town."

"And how do you know?" Jade asked.

"He went to the hideout that I hit after I left. Statements from the police reports." explained Eli. "If he's following me then he's bound to go into the Narrows with me."

Jade shook her head. "You've been there before haven't you? There's no way you think you can just waltz in there and shoot up the place." Eli gave her a leveled look that challenged her last statement. "Okay, okay, even if you could, you do know what it'll do right? Cops, clean and dirty, will be after you."

"I know." Now Jade sat up at his words. "When I went to their set-up, I found out that there was an officer there, Whale's stooge. The guy didn't look like much. I just need a few seconds with him and I'll learn more. I know it."

"I have to find out some information for Ben. You could help me with my job and I'll help you with yours." Jade offered.

"What or who are you looking for?"

Jade lied onto her back. "Information. A woman known as Carolyn Wu-San has been missing. Ben thinks she's dead, which would unleash hell if her sister finds out." Jade watched Eli's fingers glide over the keys of his laptop, his intense stare going onto the screen. "What's wrong?"

"She lived New York. Traveled to New Camford and Gotham City." Eli then looked at Jade. "Is that what you two are doing in New Camford? Searching for…" The boy's correct assumptions were interrupted by his cell's buzzing vibrations. "Damn it."

Jade said nothing as Eli answered his phone; he apparently not pleased with who was on the other line. He spoke quietly in a harsh tone before hanging up altogether. If Jade had anything better to do at the moment, she probably would not care. Unfortunately, she was stuck trying to figure out what in the hell just transpired.

"There's a group called the Ghost Dragons. From what I can tell, that's where you should start your search." Eli commented calmly.

Jade frowned. "And how in the hell did you figure that out so quickly?"

"Carolyn Wu-San was apparently a contact for some organization, G.O.O.D? They were working on a case against the Ghost Dragons. If she's gone missing then we start there." Eli confirmed, slowly bringing his eyes up to meet Jade's surprised look. "What?"

"What computer program are you using? There's no way you should be able to know that!" Jade voiced.

"Carolyn Wu-San is a legal alien who was arrested twice, once in New York assault and the second for a domestic case in Gotham. The government does most of the tracking. You just have to track them." Eli stated before turning the laptop to Jade, she seeing a picture of Carolyn. "They tried to tie her to a killer known as Lady Shiva. They don't have much on Shiva but Carolyn was here and was arrested with two members of the Ghost Dragons. She was bailed by G.O.O.D and that was it."

And this is what Jade meant. The boy was resourceful and scary witty when push came to shove. He had just figured out that Carolyn worked for an agency outside the U.S government while it took Ben explaining this to her months ago.

Jade then sat up straight on her bed. "Well, I guess I'll check out the people I was already going to see. Thanks for the tip."

"No problem. Though, from what I can tell, you're going to need some help. These guys aren't SRC grade. They're worse." Eli pointed out.

"Meet me back here later on and I'll tell you how I lived if you tell me how you did." stated Jade with a smile. "Just don't die. I'm having fun watching you 'not be a hero' and all."

Eli shook his head. "One day I'll understand your weird sense of humor."

"Likewise Jackson," Jade returned as she got out of the bed. She then strolled towards the bathroom. "Want to change together?"

"No." Jade laughed as she entered the bathroom, closing the door behind her. "Women…"

* * *

Eli never knew what the deal was with vigilantes and rooftops. Before he became Hornet, he thought it was rather a waste of energy to always have to travel via rooftop or a motor vehicle. Now that he was perched on a gargoyle looking down at Gotham City, he got it.

It was fast.

It was convenient.

And it was peaceful.

From his vantage point, he could see the bridge that led to the small island known as the Gotham Narrows. The island, one of six that made Gotham City, was noticeably the smallest and a place that his parents had never taken him to. His only time on the island was doing a time he and Mallory snuck out, a time that they actually regretted. Now he was going there to find the man responsible for his father's death on this small island.

Now he had to get on the island without being seen.

Eli scanned the roads. He would most likely have to hitch a ride onto a truck, which was not his favorable idea. But he knew that once he crossed into the Narrows, the security of the rooftops were no more. The people there checked _everywhere_.

"Help me!"

Eli grunted at the indistinctive, and loud, scream that turned his attention. This happened in New Camford more than enough times to irritate him. He had no real want or desire to save pedestrians on a day-to-day basis. He had a mission to do. Saving a life really did not fit in with his plan for vengeance…

But he already had a heavy conscience about donning this suit on and doing what he did in such a little time. Saving a life would ease that conscience.

Now he had to get down there…

"I hate this job." Eli mumbled to himself as he scanned the area, using his goggles to zoom in and out to find the disturbance.

Unable to spot it right away, the teen climbed onto the old building to get a better look. Searching for problems got easier with time. While the goggles covering his eyes could give him x-ray or night vision depending on whichever he chose, it could not just outright locate domestic problems. He had to see if it could spot a disturbance, like a misplaced number in a pattern, without being seen or heard. Jade was much better at this than he was, then again, Jade was also the causer of a lot of problems as well.

Of course, the solver of all problems was a simple solution: Get closer. Yeah, that was the simple answer Ben had given him. That meant that he would have to leap off of one building, freefall several of yards downwards, roll onto another roof (if he did it properly mind you), get up, and search again.

"I really hate this job." Eli muttered as he built up a run to do just as he had thought.

The jump never scared him; he was quite an active child after all. It was just the time between the lands that fed his anxiety. Maybe it was his lack of patience or his fear that someday he would miss his mark, but he hated the times between a jump and a landing when traversing from a higher perch to a lower on.

Feet hitting cement, Hornet rolled to successfully carry the momentum and energy with him before hitting his feet and running towards the edge of the second building. The second jump occurred afterwards, this one to a building of equal hate. This allowed Eli to slow his tempo to a complete halt and listen.

"Don't try me! I will kill her!"

Eli came to the westernmost side of the aged apartment building he was on and looked down onto the scene below. There in an alleyway was a man holding a woman at knifepoint, two GCPD cops walking him down.

"Okay, okay," one of the officers said. "Put the knife down and return the money. We don't want to hurt you."

Hornet studied the situation. The knife-wielding man had duffle bag straps thrown over his left shoulder whilst holding the knife with his right hand. The cops had their weapons trained on the man's position, obviously not caring if the woman lived or died. As Eli adjusted the vision on his goggles so he was not just seeing body heat, he heard the apparent thief make a statement.

"Just let me go, alright! I don't want to kill her- but I'll do it! I swear to God I'll slit her throat here and now!" the man called out, unbeknownst to the Yellow Jacket making his move. "Put your guns down now!"

"Look, this doesn't end well for you at all." The second officer bellowed. "You're either going to jail or in the ground! Let the woman go! Or we'll shoot!"

"Oh yeah? Why don't you shoot then!" The knifeman was not backing down. He had too much riding on this job and he was not going to be stopped by the two officers.

The second officer, a well-toned middle-aged man stepped forward, gun aimed at the thief and his captive.

"I'm getting sick of little shits like you! Put the knife down or I swear to God I'm going to fire a bullet straight through your goddamn brain!" the officer bellowed.

The greasy-appearing thief grunted. "You can't do that! You're a cop! Your cam is on!"

"You have to the count of one! Five!"

Eli closed his eyes. He was no stranger to hearing about cops killing and being killed on the news. Yet he had never experienced it until now. Or rather, he would experience it now if he did not make a move.

"Four!"

Worse, Eli knew exactly how this would make him look like. The people of New Camford were already a little wishy-washy over a masked man running around beating and shooting people, regardless of the crimes that they committed. Now he would be fighting off cops.

"Three!"

And he had to stop the thief from slicing the woman's neck and/or running off with whatever he had stolen in the bag.

"Two!"

Damn this job to hell…

It happened before "one" was ever uttered. The younger rookie cop looked amazed as the Yellow Jacket seemingly pounced from the heavens onto his senior partner, knocking the gun out of his hand. A shot went off but missed both the woman and her captor completely, thankfully. Eli was forced to kick the gun away from the knocked down policeman before any harm could be sent his way.

"Stay down," Hornet growled to the downed cop before turning his masked face towards the standing younger officer. "Put your gun down."

"Uh… Um… Y-Yes sir."

"What're you doing!" the downed officer called to his partner. "This is the Yellow Jacket! Shoot him! Shoot him!"

"Gun down, _now_." ordered the Yellow Jacket. The younger officer threw his gun down and held his hands up, not wanting to meet the same fate as the men at the warehouse the previous night. Hornet then looked at the thief. "Let the woman go."

"What? No! You'll just kill me!" the thief argued.

"I'll kill you either way," responded the irritated vigilante. "If you release her, you live. If she's cut, I will drop you where you stand."

It was a bit dramatic but Eli knew the message was met. The thief's brown eyes wavered between the officer that was standing and Hornet with rapid succession. The small whispers about the notorious Yellow Jacket were growing and people were starting to understand what he was about. Either way, his no BS attitude was one that a growing number was beginning to learn.

"No guns," the thief said.

"None." Hornet answered. "Let her go."

With a shove, the woman stumbled forward with a shriek. Eli kept his eyes on the thief with his fingers prepping his next move, his mind taking aim.

"There," the thief stated. "Now what?"

Faster than any of them could speak, Eli's right hand shot out, wrist flinging a dart directly at the thief. It secured a spot in his left shoulder. Hornet watched his opponent pull the dart out before taking a stumbling step sideways and collapsing onto his knees.

"Wha… What did….?" The thief hit the ground before his question could be asked.

"What is your name?" Eli asked to the younger cop.

"Jensen. Officer Jensen." The man replied.

Hornet quickly struck the rising officer with a kick to his face, knocking him back down. When the once threatening policeman had hit the ground again, this time on his back, Yellow Jacket pointed towards Officer Jensen.

"Cuff your thief," Hornet directed as he made sure that the downed officer was unconscious from the kick. "And let your commanding officer know why I did this. You're here to protect the innocent, not sacrifice them."

Officer Jensen said nothing as the Yellow Jacket rolled his senior partner (Officer Marx) onto his back and zip-tied his wrists together. He stood frozen with the thoughts that the Yellow Jacket was a wanted murderer and he, during his first month on the job, had a chance to take him in. However, as soon as Officer Marx was done, the Yellow Jacket gave the woman a look over his shoulder, raised his left hand, and slammed something into the ground. A bright flashing light blinded them with a cloud of smoke forcing them to keep their eyes closed for an extra few seconds.

When the smoke and light cleared, the Yellow Jacket was nowhere to be seen and the thief had been handcuffed with Officer Marx's cuffs.

"Holy shit…" the woman muttered.

Officer Jensen swallowed loudly. "Yeah… Holy shit…"

* * *

Eli was, if nothing else, a resourceful guy when push came to shove. He knew that without a vehicle, crossing the bridge into the Gotham Narrows would be harder if he was spotted a mile away. And wearing a trademark yellow jacket in July was a great way to be spotted.

…Unless the jacket could be flipped inside out and worn with different colors. The costume that was meant for Trent came with a reversible jacket with inverse colors meaning that Eli could walk into the Narrows with a black jacket with a yellow stripe that ran down the back of his sleeves. From there, he removed and pocketed his mask and walked across the bridge.

It sounded too easy right?

But it was that easy. There were not a lot of things that Eli remembered about the Narrows. Dialects, gangs, stores, and locations were among those things that he could not recollect off the top of his brain. The only thing that did stand out was that people in the Gotham Narrows dressed differently. Wearing a jacket in July and pants were just the disguise one needed to get inside the Gotham Narrows.

Then the not-so easy part came. This is when he had to find a secluded spot to change his coat back and replace his mask. The only problem there was that every secluded spot that he could find was being used for gambling, drug deals, or prostitution. And not just the soliciting part of the prostitution, _oh no_ , he had walked in on the actual "servicing" part.

Now some fat rugged man and a topless prostitution were lying unconscious in an alleyway after Eli took the space for himself and interrupted their deal.

"I thought you'd be here sooner or later."

Eli was not surprised that Nightwing had somehow beaten him to the bar. The old rundown tavern was in need of some proper maintenance, something Eli figured once he landed on the roof. Nightwing was already there with another vigilante Eli had yet met.

"Hornet, allow me to introduce to you Gotham's own, Batgirl." Nightwing introduced. "Batgirl, the Yellow Jacket."

Batgirl smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"…" Eli ignored her and looked at Nightwing. "Why are you here?"

Nightwing shrugged. "Just doing my job. And apparently that means that we're looking for the same guy, the Hound."

"The Hound has no connections with Tobias Whale, just the Mozgov and Sullivan families. He's not apart of the deal." responded Hornet. "So you're either here to stop me or to help me."

"We can't let you kill him. You've already done enough of that." commented Batgirl, still a little annoyed by the Hornet's lack of social etiquette. "I don't know what you do in New Camford but-"

"I've heard that before. I don't need to hear it again." The monotone computerized voice caused Batgirl to seethe quietly as the Yellow Jacket addressed Nightwing again. "If you get in my way, you know what'll happen."

Nightwing held a hand up. "I can't let you do this. It won't give you the answers you're looking for." Beneath his mask, Eli grimaced. "Listen, I looked up information on the Army Ant and something popped up. Something about a 'gamer' in New Camford. I don't know much so I thought that maybe you did. He or she is the one you should be after not-"

Eli was not someone who believed in _total_ coincidences. There was a reason that his dad chased after his mom. There was a reason that his dad died. So when the building across the street from them suddenly burst into flames he was not as visibly shocked as Batgirl appeared. If anything, he was angry that it had happened- that it was _planned_ to happen.

A laugh caught their attention as Firefly zoomed by, flamethrower in hand.

"Firefly," Batgirl and Nightwing growled.

"There're people still in that building," Hornet voiced, using the X-ray vision on his goggles to see through the spreading flames. "If you're going to save them then-"

" _We're_ going to save them. Kelley will have to wait," Nightwing interrupted. "I know about those kids that were kidnapped. They deserve to know that the guy that saved them isn't a killer asshole."

Eli huffed slowly and deeply. He absolutely hated this job, especially when saving those who he did not know- those who deserved it or not- came in-between getting the answers he needed to _quit_ said job. But he knew Nightwing was right, if only just. He had a duty to save the people in that building and then track down Firefly to beat the living hell out of him.

And then he'd beat the Hound twice as hard for the delay.

Hornet did not even attempt to strategize with the two Gothamites present. He pointed his arms towards the building and fired both grappling hooks ahead, hitting the bricks on either sides of a window. Without so much as a word, the Yellow Jacket reeled himself towards the window, crashing and rolling into the small cheap apartment.

"Aah!" a young girl screamed at the sight of the hooded vigilante who was reeling the rest of the wire back into his gauntlets.

"Don't worry," Eli said, though he knew his voice-changer was not easing the young girl's fear at all. He stood and removed his hood, staring down at her through his goggles. "I'm going to get you out of here."

From what he could assume, the building had six, maybe seven floors. The fire seemed to stem from the top floors which mean that his designation, the third, should be clear. He had no idea how long that would fact remain true so he had to move fast.

"Come on," Eli instructed, the little girl following him out of, what appeared to be, her bedroom. "Is there anyone here with you?"

"My mommy went to sleep on the couch." the girl announced.

Given the size of the small apartment, it was not long before Eli saw the woman's mother "sleeping" on the couch. He groaned at the sight of the beer bottles lying on the floor and the heavy stench of alcohol. The woman looked young- maybe a year or two older than Eli- and thin, meaning that he could, if needed, carry her.

"Up," Hornet said shaking the woman. "Get up!"

"Hnn, hmm…" The Yellow Jacket's fists balled up momentarily before he practically shoveled his hands between the woman's body and the brown sofa cushions and hoisted her into his arms. "Woo!"

"Come on kid. We need to leave." Eli said as he nodded his head to the door. "Open the door."

"'kay!"

It was then that Eli heard the panic outside the room. Once the door was opened, he could see them all scrambling down the stairs to get out. He looked at the girl who had yet release the door knob and carefully squatted.

"Think you can hop on my back?" he asked her as nicely as the choice-changer allowed.

With a smile and a nod, the girl did just that. Eli released a small grunt as he stood up slowly. Apparently Ben's workouts _have_ been paying off, he mused as he carefully migrated into the crowd. As nimble as one could in his predicament, he traversed down the flights of steps, dodging those too fast to stay behind him or too slow to stay in front of him. But he was eventually led through the front doors of the building where he carried the woman and child across the street and sat them down gently on the sidewalk.

"Hey! Isn't that _him_?"

"It's the motherfuckin' Yellow Jacket!"

"Camford's Killa Bee!"

Hornet, Eli thought to himself as he marched back towards the building, was it so damn hard to say Hornet?

Fighting through the remainder of the crowd rushing to leave the building, Eli found himself with lesser patience than he began with. Firefly had set this up, he knew that, but for what reason(s)? Did this have anything do with Eli tracking down the Hound? Or was this Nightwing or Batgirl related? And why was Firefly helping the Hound?

…And who called him Camford's Killer Bee? That was just stupid.

His shoulders continued to ping-pong off of those rushing by him as he climbed the steps. His goggles were still in X-ray, seeing nothing more than a skeletons move by him. Despite his mind attempting to figure out what the hell was Firefly's deal, he continued his climb upwards. Subconsciously he looked into rooms to see if there were any bodies that he could pick up that had yet attempted to escape.

Then a gunshot caused him to momentarily freeze.

Great…

Racing up the steps now, Eli tried to find out where the shot came from and soon came to the problem.

"Hornet!" Nightwing called, his back against the wall next to an open door. On the opposite side of the door was Batgirl in a similar position. "Three gunmen!"

"Don't kill them though!" Batgirl's command caused Hornet to hesitate.

Hornet looked through the walls. He could see the bodies trained on the open door, prepared to completely annihilate anything or anyone that remotely looked like a hero. These sorts of situations were things that Nick explained thoroughly to Eli just as Malcolm stressed to Trent. He had to be tactical. He had to be patient. And he had to hit with precision.

Eli gripped one of his smoke grenades, running his fingers over the sides of them to feel the small bumps that separated them from the all smooth spheres that were his flash grenades. He tossed the grenades into the room, counted to three, and then dove inside leaving Batgirl and Nightwing outside.

"You know," Batgirl whispered, her arms crossed. "We could've just done that ourselves."

Nightwing shrugged. "Yeah I know. But you wanted to know how well he moves so I figured this was the best way. Not like we can just put Batman's training simulators in a burning building."

"Shit man! Get out of here!"

"He's got Slim!"

"Fuck him! Go!"

Batgirl and Nightwing watched two teens rush out of the room, making a beeline for the stairs. The redhead saw the rather smug proud look that Nightwing had on his face, as if he had coached Hornet through this victory until the third teen came out. The third and thinnest member- making his nickname "Slim make sense- was bleeding profusely from his nose as he stumbled out.

"He… He's crazy!" Slim called out as he stumbled for the stairs. "Wait until… I call my lawyer!"

Hornet calmly walked out of the room, fixing his gloves while aiming a heated stare at Nightwing.

"They were out of ammo." stated Hornet. "Why didn't you tell me that?"

"You're in Gotham now. Let's see if you can survive down here." Nightwing remarked.

Eli's eyes narrowed at Nightwing from behind his goggles. He thought about shooting the hero in black and blue, only disregarding said thoughts as they had a bigger picture to complete first. The Hound had to be found and then Firefly. Hornet had no business no real business with Firefly, despite wanting to beat the hell out of him. Firefly was a distraction and the Hound was the target.

"Hornet," Nightwing called him out of his thoughts. "There're more people in here. We need to get them to safety."

"And then…" the Yellow Jacket egged on.

"And then we go after Firefly," said Nightwing. Knowing an argument was coming, the former circus star held up a hand. "If you help us with Firefly, Hound is yours on one condition: He lives."

Of course, a burning building was not the place to hold a full-length conversation on why the man that murdered his father should live or not. That was the only reason Eli found himself nodding to the stipulations. But Eli was not okay with the Hound walking away from this.

Batgirl bristled. "We need to move. People are still in danger."

"Fine," Hornet said.

"Then let's go do our jobs." Nightwing gave the calm order. "Remember, we still have to get out of the Narrows."

The three of them released a similar sigh. Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Okay, nothing major here, just setting up for the next, and rightfully titled, chapter. Some more background about Leila's relationship with Miles will be revealed as well as some Eli and Barbara time- and not just Hornet and Batgirl. The revelation of the main villain of this story is near as well as Ben's and Jade's separate missions. As always, thanks for reading and if you have any questions, thoughts, or comments, leave a review or PM and I will answer them in the next review corner. Ciao.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Warnings:** This chapter is rated T for Teen for violence and swearing.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Thirteen: Insecticide Pt. II

Jim Gordon was getting old, far too old to be dealing with the rabbit hat that was Gotham City's crime scenes. Just today he had arrested one villain who used condiments- yes ketchup and mustard- as an offensive attack, had to round of Polka Dot Man, and was dealing with the possibility of another cop publicly prosecuted by Two-Face. The aging commissioner had no time to just sit around his office and deal with paperwork. His men, as seemingly always, were stretched thin to do their duties so he was on the field again.

But the Gotham Narrows was not a place for the police commissioner.

The men, women, and children that were present gave him death glares. They wanted his head on a platter and would probably roast the rest of him. It was the mentality of the citizens in, not just the Narrows, but all of Gotham City really; the police were against them. It did no matter the good the GCPD actually did or could do; the men and women present had already put it in their minds that the cops were the bad guys. Period.

Those thoughts were only intensified when _three_ vigilantes were actually present with the cops.

The first was the guy from Bludhaven- Nightwing was his name. The guy stood in his blue on black outfit that looked like it was made of some highly dense material that Jim probably could not even spell, let alone pronounce. But what stood out the most was Nightwing's short messy hair that was identical to Robin's. Apparently the kid got tired of being in the Bat's shadow.

Next was the redhead Batgirl, one of Batman's sidekicks. The golden bat emblem on her chest was in the same position as Batman's, though the shape and size were slightly different. And unlike her mentor, Batgirl seemed to be fine with the other officers around. In fact, she and Nightwing appeared to be completely comfortable, even if they were out in daylight.

The third guy not so much. Then again, it was the first time that the Yellow Jacket's "face" was seen. Most of the shots that the news outlets had of him were taken with his hood covering his face. Now they could all see the mask that covered his entire head and neck. The fact that the guy was wearing black goggles also seemed odd.

Then again, Jim assumed, there was really nothing that seemed odd to him anymore.

"Commissioner Gordon." Nightwing acknowledged him first with Batgirl at his side, Hornet behind them with his eyes on the crowd around them.

The old man huffed calmly. "So, what do we have here?"

"Firefly did this. We don't know what his endgame was but we think it was to throw off Hornet." Nightwing explained.

"You don't say…" Jim's eyes drifted to the quiet Yellow Jacket as he spoke. "I saw Officer Marx, by the way. He's requesting for anyone on the force to put a bullet through your head." Hornet simply gazed at the man from behind his goggles and then looked back at the crowd. "Not a talker, is he?"

"He's alright. I can vouch for him." said Nightwing.

"Can you also vouch for the murders that I have committed by him?" The question was enough to draw a sound of disapproval from Batgirl who frequently gave Hornet cruel glares.

Jim watched as Batgirl and Nightwing give each other code glances, nothing unfamiliar to a guy who's been around Batman for years now. They were apparently having some sort of conversation about the out-of-towner.

"He's wanted for murders, not just in Gotham, but New Camford as well." Jim continued. "Believe me, I don't want to take in someone who is helping you two- or Batman, but the fact is Batman doesn't kill."

"Batman allowed Bookworm to escape to New Camford. Lives were lost as a result. Batman killed them indirectly." Hornet finally voiced, his distorted voice washing over the group. "I'm not here to protect your city and I'm leaving as soon as I get the man responsible for a death in my city. Your officer was about to shoot a woman in order to kill a thief carrying less than a thousand dollars. I did you a favor."

"By giving him a concussion?" asked Jim.

"By cleaning up your department." said Hornet, this time with a little bit more force in his voice. "The people in this city know that your cops are dirty. Officer Jensen's body camera will show that."

"I could still have you arrested." Jim stated.

"Wait," Nightwing butted in. "I still need him. We're working a case trying to take down Tobias Whale."

Jim scoffed."Tobias Whale? Good luck."

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say as Hornet and Nightwing casted a darkened glance Jim's way. The aged commissioner was used to receiving a few death glares and threats during his tenure. He was used to being on the side of the unpopular vote or opinion. But there was something about this Hornet guy- or whatever the hell his name actually was- that kept Jim on edge. It wasn't just how the criminals responded to his presence, oh no, it was the cops' reactions as well.

The guy was bad news.

"We need to keep moving. Firefly is still loose." Hornet commented.

"Hornet's right," Batgirl finally spoke up. "We need to make sure that no else is targeted by Firefly."

Jim looked at them individually. Truth be told, vigilantism was still illegal in Gotham City and its surrounding metro area. Hell, it was illegal in most- if not all- parts of the United States of America. But throughout the years, a group of several selected individuals made it possible for vigilantes to run about and help the good fight. And after making the assumption that Nightwing and Robin were one in the same, Jim figured that these three seemed to personify those guys in a nutshell: the redhead who was the typical fighter of righteousness (especially women's rights), the dark-haired boy who saw the best in people, and the guy in yellow who was the rule-breaking bad-boy.

Redhead Wonder Woman, black and blue Superman, and yellow gun-slinging Batman.

"Before that," Jim said before eying the guys that Hornet had apparently "assaulted" before chasing them out of the building. "Those guys apparently want to press charges on the guy that came in and, 'beat the hell out of them for no reason'."

Batgirl and Nightwing glanced at Hornet, who was too busy glaring at the three being escorted into the car to give a damn. Or so they thought.

"Two of them ran. The last one stayed and fought. They were trying to hide the marijuana I'm sure none of your officers found or smelled on them, did they?" Hornet returned.

"No. No I didn't get that in the report." Jim answered honestly.

"You want to clean your department," Hornet told Jim. "I'll help with that."

Nightwing chuckled quietly. "Yeah, he's real good at scaring the hell out of cops."

"You don't say." Jim voiced, unsure if the Hornet was being honest or not. "I'm going to let you guys go but if any of my officers are harmed in anyway… I'll check the footage first."

Hornet gave a nod before the trio left, parting the crowd as they walked away and each raising a hand. Jim watched as they all shot those fancy zip-lines up at a standing unaffected apartment building and reeled themselves up there with ease. He knew that if he had sent someone up there that those three would probably be long gone. Jim had no idea how they do it. He just knew that they did it.

"Hey Jim," Of course, this visit to the Narrows would be nothing without his former partner Detective Harvey Bullock. As the plump man walked to him, Jim slowly got the urge to smoke. "You goin' to arrest that guy or not? He attacked one of us."

Jim exhaled heavily through his nostrils. "No- not today at least. If Nightwing and Batgirl trust him, then that means he's in with you-know-who. We'd all think twice about crossing him."

"So what, some nut in a bat-suit run things now? Huh? He attacked a cop! One of your cops!" Harvey proclaimed.

"And at this moment my daughter is probably running off with her new boyfriend and I can't do my fatherly duties and make sure that my little girl is still my little girl."

"Barbara is fine. What really matters is-"

"That Firefly is caught." Jim said before looking at the other officers. "We apparently have a bug problem right now with the Yellow Jacket, Firefly, and Killer Moth- who is rumored to be back in town. If you catch all three of them committing a crime, bring them in _alive_. If not, then get me Firefly and/or Killer Moth. Understood."

"Yes sir!" the others replied.

Jim eyed Harvey. "Then let's move out."

Jim was not surprised that his one-time friend was against this decision but walked back to his car. Firefly and Killer Moth was one thing, he did not need some newbie hero beating every cop who broke the law. Not that the commissioner was actually opposed to that, hell he'd beat a few guys if he could, but it was bad publicity. The Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department could not authorize a vigilante to go around and monitor the policemen and policewomen of Gotham City.

But if Hornet just did it on his own? Well, then Jim's day just got cut in half and now he could check in on Barbara and this Eli character. Sarah may think the kid was alright, but Jim was still in deliberation on that.

Hey, a father had the right to question didn't he?

* * *

Gotham City was a strange place. That was the city's unofficial motto, "It's a strange place". But this had to be the strangest thing that the man of forty had ever experienced in his life, in Gotham or anywhere else.

Steven Kelley, alias the Hound, was enjoying an afternoon beer at a local bar in the Gotham Narrows as he always did. Also, as norm, he asked the bartender for any "job offers" that may or may not have come for him. He had two for the Mozgov Family. It seemed like a normal day until Killer Moth walked in.

Killer Moth had expressed his "mutual interest" in this new Yellow Jacket character and had offered to pay the Hound a great deal of money if he would take care of this problem. Of course, at the time, the Hound had no idea that the Yellow Jacket was on the move to find him and, presumably, kill him.

Now Steven was currently at a location known as the Moth Cave along with Killer Moth and Firefly, two guys he never necessarily cared to meet.

"An old guy with a shitty comb-over? This is the Hound?" Firefly said with a scoff. "He could've burned with the others for all I care."

Killer Moth, who was diligently at his "Moth Computer," only waved a dismissive hand over his shoulder.

"We need him for the moment to draw out the Yellow Jacket." Killer Moth stated as he went back to work. "The Yellow Jacket and Nightwing will clear up business in Bludhaven and New Camford. We need them both."

"You want me to kill them?" Now it was the Hound who asked.

Killer Moth returned the question with silence. Truth be told, he was using the Hound as bait to lead the Yellow Jacket out into the opening. From there, one of two things would happen. The Yellow Jacket would join up with Killer Moth and kill Nightwing or Killer Moth would kill them both. There was no middle ground on the decision. Yellow Jacket either played his role or died like those who got into Killer Moth's way…

Well, those he had succeeded in removing that is. Of course, referring to himself as "Killer Moth" did not necessarily strike fear into people. Hell, for the most part he was considered a B-tier villain. However he was improving on that list. With Firefly, and hopefully the Yellow Jacket, to aid him, he would run this city with his own personal swarm. And those people that evaded him or completely laughed at his threats before he escaped Blackgate would regret it.

"So is that a yes or a no on the kill them thing?" Steven questioned.

"It's a 'be quiet'. I need to work." Killer Moth returned.

There was silence afterwards which allowed Killer Moth to think. Even if he did solve his problems with Nightwing (for tailing him across the eastern coast) and the Yellow Jacket (for stealing his weapons), he still had other people to think about. Batman, for instance, would forever be a nuisance. He could team up with more Batman-hating villains but that meant that the pie grew smaller and smaller with each new mouth to feed. Firefly was in it for the destruction, mostly, but guys like Two-Face and Penguin would never join if the payout was not good enough. And this was, of course, the problem _after_ Nightwing and the Yellow Jacket had been dealt with.

"Who is Catman…?" Killer Moth asked himself quietly as he read the screen. He shook his head and pushed away. "It doesn't matter. I need to deal with the problem at hand first. Nightwing. Yellow Jacket. And then Holocaust."

The Hound shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "And why am I here again?"

Now Killer Moth rounded on him. "For bait, of course."

"What…?" Steven asked.

"Oh, don't worry," Killer Moth said standing out of the chair. "I'll make sure that you don't die, for a price of course. Unless you think you can handle the Killer Bee by yourself. He's quite the pest."

Steven scoffed. "You think I'm scared by one of them costume freaks? It's my job to hunt them down!"

"Fine. Go out there and find him." Killer Moth offered as he waved his hand towards the exit. "Just remember that, when he finds you, statistics predict that you will go to the hospital, most likely dead."

"I can handle him." Steven said as he walked towards the large cave doors. "Just give me my revolver. I'll put him down like the others… For free!"

Firefly was confused as Killer Moth allowed the man to go free. They had gone through all the trouble in doing several petty crimes to get the attention of everyone while the Hound was allowed to escape and now, Killer Moth let Steven to walk out into the impending doom they were trying to avoid.

"Now," Killer Moth spoke. "I know where the Yellow Jacket will be."

"What are you talking about?" Firefly questioned.

"Flowers attract bees," explained Moth. "But for the Yellow Jacket, you simply need a poor sap with a target on his head."

Firefly snorted. "So that's how you'll use him, eh? Seems a little underhanded."

"Well, I'm not Gotham's Most Improved Villain for nothing!" Killer Moth lightheartedly joked.

Killer Moth cackled with Firefly. Pride would most likely kill Steven with the Yellow Jacket's assistance, no less. And as long as the Yellow Jacket believed that Killer Moth gave him the Hound as a means to extend an olive branch, then _maybe_ the gunman would join Killer Moth.

If not, then he'd just kill him too.

* * *

Barbara Gordon was supposed to take the day off. Today was supposed to be the day that she initiated contact with Eli Jackson instead of waiting on him to call or stop by and go out. Her stepmom (step-aunt actually) had gone through the trouble of lining up many things that Barbara and Eli could for today while promising that she would keep James (both father and son) away from the couple.

However, she spent nearly two hours searching for Firefly and another with Nightwing debating on how they were going to work with a known murderer _without_ Batman finding out. Hornet had abandoned them to search on his own, something Nightwing was alright with. Batgirl, however, bit back the fact that the cops were after the Yellow Jacket and that he could very well encounter them before finding Firefly, Killer Moth, or the Hound. Then again, no one could say for sure what would happen if Hornet actually did find their targets before Nightwing and/or Batgirl arrived on scene.

It could be worse than what would happen if the cops attempted to stop him.

Hornet was not the only problem though. There was the fact that Firefly was still out and possibly planning another attack. He had been an annoying pest for the past month or so, though Batman's attention had been mostly on whatever Penguin had cooked up. Barbara had attempted to catch the pyromaniacal insect though other problems seemed to always pop up and divert her attention momentarily.

Stepping out of the cab that had driven her from Wayne Manor, where she dropped her suit off for the time being, Barbara was surprised to see that Eli was stepping off of her porch. She quickly paid the cab driver before meeting him in the driveway.

"Hey, I was just about to call." Barbara said, flashing her cell phone to add to her tale. To be fair, she _had_ thought about calling Eli, though that was _hours_ ago.

Eli gave her a curious look. "Your mom said that you went out to find me."

"Side-tracked. One of my friends had a boyfriend emergency." Eli gave a silent "oh" and seemingly dropped the interrogation. Barbara sighed and smiled at him. "So… What did you stop by for? I mean, you don't need a reason. Well you do, it's just… I'm rambling, aren't I?"

"You are," chuckled Eli. Barbara laughed quietly with him, her eyes going slowly drifting to the paved driveway. "I stopped by 'cause my cousin and I were arguing and I just needed time away from her."

"Oh… Is everything alright?"

Eli nodded. "Yeah, we're cool. I mean, we were close growing up, like siblings. We're always arguing over something." Eli released a heavy breath. "So I left and was just wandering around before I decided to come here."

"Did you want to talk about it?" asked Barbara. Though she questioned this, she was more than alright with him not discussing his family issues. It wouldn't be the first boyfriend she had that kept secrets from her.

"You wanna walk around?" Eli suggested. Barbara agreed, understanding what the walk was really about and stepped with him to the sidewalk where he began his tale. "My cousin, and aunt for that matter, thinks that my mom is… I don't know. The greatest. I'm not saying she's the worst parent but…"

His uneasiness explaining this made Barbara believe that this had been troubling him all day. The redhead was actually pleased that he had come to her with this. Eli did not seem like the most open guy in the world and probably kept a lot of his issues to himself for the most part. Yet, he had somehow gotten close to her enough to be open about his problems with his mother. For a girl who had not dated in months, the fact that he did tell her made Barbara feel quite good about the blossoming relationship.

Eli, on the other hand, felt bad about this. The boy needed a solid alibi when he returned to his aunt's apartment and knew that using Nightwing or Jade was out of the question. Being with Barbara, for any part of the day, made coming back easier. It gave him someone to excuse his absence while keeping his adventures as Hornet hush. Sadly, he felt that Barbara was really trying to help his relationship with his mother, a relationship he had no real want to fix.

Leila had made that bed years ago. Eli was just lying in it alone.

The couple had shifted from talking about Leila to talking about, oddly, sports. Barbara was a Dakota City native, and thus, a big Cleveland Browns fan. Eli was, as many residents of New Camford were, a New England Patriots fan. The small trivia about the two brought about small banters such as Eli claiming that the Browns were a joke and Barbara commented on how the Patriots team was built around Tom Brady, deflated balls, and trusted referees.

Their playfulness ended with her actually taking a jovial swing at him for commenting about her terrible "girly throw" at an operating booth at the Amusement Mile. This ended in a playful chase that ended up with Barbara being wrapped by the stronger Eli. Both ignored those that they blew by on the sidewalk as they chased and flirted. To them, it was once more just the two of them in the big Gotham jungle.

It was thirty minutes after their joking began that Barbara suggested going to a small café for a small impromptu date. Eli had agreed only because she had actually diverted his attention from his actual problems. It was as if finding a flame-wielding pyromaniac and a hit-man was not of importance.

"So, I have a question and you have to answer," Barbara began as they walked inside of the establishment. "As a librarian, I hear the nerdy battles and you have to decide which side you're on. Star Wars or Star Trek."

Eli scoffed lightly at the question. Hannah would never have asked him this question and he doubts any of the cheerleaders that he had flirted with post-Hannah even knew that the two were separate franchises. But he gave an answer anyway.

"Star Wars," Barbara raised her brows at his answer, obviously wanting an explanation. "Yoda beats Spock. Simple."

Now it was Barbara who rolled her eyes. "Of course," Her blue eyes then landed onto the teen girl working behind the counter. "Ahem."

Eli noticed the blonde behind the counter look up from the cash register at the two before her green eyes lit. He did not have to be psychic to know that the girl behind the counter and Barbara were at least on civil terms with one another.

"Babs!" the cashier squealed. "Is this him?" Eli raised a brow when Barbara meekly nodded, obviously a bit uncomfortable with the outburst. "When you said he was hot, I thought in a geeky librarian way. Not _this_!"

"Colleen," Barbara's voice was hardly above a whisper, a tone Eli recognized as how Hannah spoke to her parents whenever his ex was embarrassed by them in public. "You're making a scene, _at work_. Can you just, take our order please?"

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Colleen returned, her gaze going back and forth between Barbara and Eli.

Eli was sure that Barbara was humiliated. He found it amusing to say the least. With Barbara's cheeks growing a shade that could match her hair he realized that he had found something to tease her with on their way back to her place.

"Eli," Barbara was unable to face him at the moment. She wanted to introduce him to Colleen but she was not expecting this reaction from her friend. "This is Colleen. Colleen, Eli."

"So," Colleen leaned against the counter, her lashes batted towards Eli. "You're the new boyfriend, huh? You don't look like you go to the library much."

"I don't." Eli answered. "Not during the summer, at least."

Colleen nodded as she stood up. "What can I get you two before I am undoubtedly fired?"

"Sweet tea and a blueberry muffin," Barbara said before glancing at Eli.

"Sweet tea but," he took a moment to read the menu on display behind Colleen. "Banana nut-bread instead."

"Ooh, my favorite," Colleen said as she rang the items up. "That'll be nine fifty."

Eli paid for the small snack while Colleen kept giving him and Barbara obvious wags of her thin brows. Barbara only put a hand up as if she was attempting to discretely hide her face from someone who might recognize her. Colleen chortled quietly at Barbara's reaction before going to get their order.

"Friend of yours?" Eli asked.

"I'm starting to debate that," Barbara responded quietly. "I'm sorry about that. Colleen was one of the people telling me that I should get out more and thought I made you up to avoid her."

"She's better than my friends." Eli commented, thinking about how different this would be in Cheshire Square with George and the Saints Row Children. He doubts Barbara would ever return to New Camford if she met his so-called friends.

"Here you two go," Colleen placed their order in front of her, Barbara quickly reaching for her muffin and cup. "Have fun!"

Barbara cut her friend a warning glare while leading Eli to a table in the small café. With only three other customers present, the place held the perfect ambience for Barbara to get a one-on-one with Eli while also proving to Colleen that Eli did exist.

Now if she could find a way to work with Hornet later on and capture Firefly, Killer Moth, and the Hound would this day be nearly perfect.

"I…" Barbara was about to speak until she saw Colleen actually coming towards them. "Oh great…"

"I have just one teeny-weeny question," Colleen said to Eli. "You're from New Camford right?" Eli nodded his head. "So have you seen him yet?"

"Who?" Eli knew exactly who Colleen was talking about. Eli had spoken about "him" to just about everyone else in this city.

"The Killer Bee, that's who!" Despite not showing it, Eli was considering getting up and going on a manhunt to find whoever issues out vigilante codenames. He understood that he wore a yellow jacket so being referred to as _the_ Yellow Jacket was alright. But the Killer Bee? That was almost insulting.

"Eli doesn't know who he is Colleen. I doubt anyone does." Barbara spoke up. "If you were with my dad earlier, you could've seen him, Nightwing, _and_ Batgirl."

"The hottie from Bludhaven too? Your dad meets all the right guys!" Colleen said.

Barbara exhaled noisily. "How do you know that either of them is hot? They wear masks Colleen."

Colleen waved Barbara off with a dismissive wave. "You're just mad that you weren't smart enough to ask your dad to get you in contact with them. I'm pretty sure that beneath their masks, there is some tattooed bad boy from New Camford and a nice sophisticated guy from Bludhaven."

Barbara huffed in defeat. While she believed that Hornet could be a tattooed bad boy from the wrong neighborhood in a hero-less city, Richard was not a "sophisticated guy" from Bludhaven. It was only amusing to Barbara that Colleen had actually met Richard on multiple occasions and had similar reactions to the one she gave Eli.

Eli was also entertained by the statement. He had no idea how Nightwing looked outside costume other than the guy had blue eyes and dark hair but he did not have tattoos and he was not necessary a labeled bad boy. Sure he got into trouble from time to time but what teenager didn't?

"Colleen," Barbara said rising from her chair. "How about we have a small talk for a sec?"

" _Oh_ , okay," Colleen responded before giving Eli a smile. "Seems as if your girlfriend is a little testy today, right?"

"Uh-huh…" Eli answered. Of course after the first date, neither had really spoken about labeling themselves as boyfriend and girlfriend. Trivial things such as that was a bit awkward considering the limited face-to-face time that they had.

Barbara casted an apologetic look Eli's way. "I'm sorry about this." And with that, she walked off with Colleen in tow.

Eli took in a breath and began to snack on the bakery he had purchased. Today had not gone the way he had planned. For starters, he was still avoiding his aunt and cousin. They were supposed to be his alibi if his mother called and now that was fully blown. Having the Hound slip through his fingers due to Firefly thoroughly pissed him off as well but he had kept his temper intact while speaking to Barbara. But just the thought of having the guy that killed his father so close and then having to let him go for some stupid fire…

"Ahem," a familiar voice had Eli looking up at the person that cleared her throat, gaining his attention. "My phone died. Do you have the time?"

Eli glanced at his phone before eying Barbara.

"Time for you to get out of here Jade." Eli mumbled angrily as Jade softly tapped the table, leaving a note where her hand met.

"Sure thing. Thanks." Jade said before walking out of the café.

Eli slowly covered the paper with his cell phone and slowly brought it to his lap to avoid drawing attention. He was slightly ticked that he had not recognized Jade- if she was here prior to him and Barbara that is. Ben and Nick had nitpicked and enhanced his skills in observation which helped him a lot in and out of costume. How he missed Jade in a small place like this was beyond him.

After checking to see that Barbara was still busy with Colleen, Eli ducked his head to unfold the note and read it. His eyes narrowed at the two words that were on the small slip of paper.

The Narrows.

"What's wrong?" Eli looked up, Barbara now returning to their table.

"Nothing. My mom just texting me." Eli lied before stealthily working the paper into his pocket. "So Colleen won't be joining us, huh?"

"Fortunately no." Barbara answered as she sat. "Why?"

Eli smirked. "I thought she was going to give me embarrassing stories about you." Barbara gave him a playful glare for the comment, her lips forming a smile. "I guess I'll just have to ask your parents then…"

"Like hell!" Barbara laughed.

Eli chuckled. He had forgotten what dates were like, mainly because his dad was the go-to before them. Those awkward talks about sex and love were things that Eli would never experience again. Sitting here with Barbara made him realize that those things would never happen again. He could not go to Robert about this and he doubted that Nick and Ben would even care about.

"Eli," Barbara gained his focus once more. "Are you alright? You looked like you zoned out."

"I'm fine I just…" Eli paused. "I just thought about my dad. It wasn't anything bad just a thought." There was a moment of silence before Eli added to it. "You know, he used to give me tips before every date. What to say, what to do, not to go too far. I was just thinking about what he would say about you."

"He'd probably say that I'm smart and really pretty and I have a beautiful smile." Barbara joked, hoping that she had not crossed any line. It was hard to tell just how far people went with their closest deceased ones.

Thankfully Eli laughed. "No. I don't think my dad would've said that. Not after he found out that you were a _Cleveland Browns'_ fan. Ugh."

"Brady bandwagon!"

The retort brought another laugh from Eli. Moments like these made it easier for him to actually be alive. It was as if the things that were wrong were not major at all, just small problems that didn't stop him from living. It made being the Hornet seemed like volition and not coercion bred by vengeance. If only moments like this could last forever.

* * *

It was well after sundown when Richard reunited with his mortified friend. Even as Batgirl, Richard could see whenever Barbara was flustered by something. He found her blush as cute as always but said no such thing here. Mostly because now she could roundhouse kick him into the next millennium if he was too busy mocking her.

At the moment, Batgirl had just joined Nightwing after a nice time off with her new boyfriend. The embarrassment that was evident on Barbara's face came from her dad finally catching his daughter and her boyfriend making out. It was quite hilarious for Richard to have seen this from his spot across the street. Eli, Barbara's new boyfriend, had promptly left Barbara to deal with the commissioner alone and Sarah, Barbara's stepmother, could not stop laughing to scold her husband for his reaction.

All in all, Richard had a pretty good laugh himself and was now trying his hardest not to let it be heard.

"Not another word Grayson," Batgirl threatened. Nightwing held his hands up as Batgirl stepped near the ledge of the building. "So he's in there?"

Nightwing cleared his throat quietly. "Yeah. I saw him head in not too long ago." Richard took in a deep breath. "It's going to be tough though. I've counted twenty other guys in there, plus the two working the bar."

"And Hornet?" Batgirl questioned while scouting the bar.

"I haven't seen him. Figured he went after Killer Moth or Firefly." Nightwing's answer made Batgirl hum with skepticism. "My thoughts exactly. He isn't an idiot. He's either here and we don't see him or he's on his way. From what I've learned about him, he doesn't miss his target. Not by much anyway."

"So how long do we have until he gets here?" Batgirl's query was an important one. Their window of opportunity had little to do with the men and women inside of the bar but the one that was coming.

"I don't know. So are you ready?" Batgirl gave a solid nod. "…"

The motion to move was a silent one that neither needed to hear. Quietly they traversed to the bar, this one on the outskirts of the Gotham Narrows. The pair snuck around to the back, seeing a group of men in the back talking.

"I don't like this plan. Trying to trap the Yellow Jacket? Aw man, that's like stirring a hornet's nest that shoots bullets." One of the counted seven men spoke in the warm night air. "Swear if he shows up, I'm getting out of here before he puts a bullet in my head like those guys up in Connecticut."

The back of the bar resembled a miniature junkyard. It was fenced in with a graveled parking lot. There were two wheel-less vehicles perched on cinderblocks in the far left hand corner, a column of used tires between the two old cars. There were patches of weeds sprouting up through the gravel, some being covered by scattered tools or buckets that were closest to the back chain-linked fence. Next to the building and closest to the opening of the fence on the side of the building were two parked vehicles, a white van and a black pick-up truck. Finally, there was a light pole that stood approximately in the center of the yard that illuminated the seven men below it.

All in all, Nightwing had already picked out his chose of entrance. He had also figured Hornet's point of entry _if_ the gunslinger came through the back entrance like he and Batgirl.

Speaking of which, Batgirl gave Nightwing a small tap before leaving hi side. The redhead stealthily leapt from the building and onto the ground below, crouching silently. Richard let his friend do what they were trained while he carefully counted the guys and made his plan.

He could attempt to get them to scatter and pick them off one at a time.

He could create a scene and get them to go to one particular spot and just sneak into the bar.

Or he could do his favorite; Surprise and Conquer.

For the seven on the gravel, they knew that they were waiting for the Yellow Jacket to appear. They were affiliates to the Mozgov Family; albeit the kind of affiliate that did not want to affiliate with the Russian family. But that was how things worked in Gotham City- if not the world. Smaller gangs had to join forces with larger ones in order to survive turf wars and in return, when crazy vigilantes came shooting everything in sight, they were the ones on the front lines.

Though to be fair, the Yellow Jacket was not doing a crusade like Batman. The vigilante was only here for one person and not to shut down the whole organization or kill everyone as it appeared. His only true target was Steven Kelley, alias the Hound. Had it been any other member of the crime syndicate, the New Camford's new Killer Bee would have had Steven gift wrapped with a bottle of champagne from one of the Mozgov brothers. But it was a valuable member of the organization and thus they were there now, waiting…

And waiting…

And waiting…

Five small spheres hit the ground like tin marbles. They did not bounce much on the gravel and they were not big enough to roll much over the small pebbles and rocks. They did get the men's attention before exploding with blinding flashes.

"He's here!"

Getting a running start, Nightwing fired a line towards the lamppost and swung towards the flock of men. His momentum was enough to kick one man into another, the two blindly tumbling away. Nightwing was quick to flip onto his feet after the maneuver was landed, sweeping the legs out from beneath a third guy. Nightwing was quick to grab two of his modified batarangs and slung them at guy four and five. He hit them both square on their foreheads, knocking them flat onto their backs.

By now, the effects of the flash grenades were wearing off and the sixth and seventh guys were regaining their vision. Nightwing was fast to respond though. His right hand quickly grabbed two discs from their rightful pouch and flung them at the two men reaching for their firearms. The discs stuck to the men, one for each, and sent a shock through their bodies that forced them to collapse moments afterwards.

"What- Ugh!" The third man attempted to get up before Nightwing landed flush punch that stopped whatever he was saying, and thinking, immediately.

Nightwing looked at the back of the tavern to see Batgirl kneeling by the door. She was using a small device. He recognized it as the device she used for most of her hacking and assume she was either disrupting the security feed or disabling the alarm system.

Or both.

"Come on," Batgirl whispered.

For two people who worked alongside Batman, it was sometimes weird using the door. But the two slipped into the backdoor of the club as quietly as they could with the mission on their minds.

The back room was oddly emptied, something that did not go unnoticed by the pair. There was a round table used for poker cleared of everything but two bottles of beer and a deck of cards on it. There were two doors present to them; one to the left of their position and one in front of them.

"Cameras are disabled," whispered Batgirl. "We should be clear."

There was one thing to note when sneaking into a place filled with hostiles. Nothing was a certainty. Disabling cameras did not mean that they were clear. It had been a mistake that the pair made nearly two years ago when infiltrating one of Black Mask's places. Batman had rescued them then but neither of them was willing to bet that he was coming tonight.

Batgirl crept to the wooden door on the left-most wall while Nightwing moved for the door on the wall opposite of the door that they entered. The white door that Nightwing neared offered voices behind it, small conversations that caused him to wave Batgirl over. The redhead shook her head, pointing to a vent overhead.

Nightwing clicked his tongue. Of course. Another night where someone from the Bat Family ended up creeping through the air ducts of some building.

"You ready?" Batgirl asked.

Nightwing smirked. "Always."

* * *

The Batgirl and Nightwing duo was not the only pair scoping the bar out. A block away from the bar was Jade and Eli, both suited for combat. Jade, garbed in her green outfit, knelt behind a high-powered rifle that the pair had looted off of one of Killer Moth's caches in New Camford.

"Your friends went to the back, probably through the backdoor," Jade stated to Hornet, who was using his goggles to zoom in on the place. "Are you sure that waiting is the best plan?"

Hornet nodded. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Why is that?" questioned Jade.

"Everyone knows that I'm going after Kelley," explained Eli. "Nightwing and Batgirl went after him to make sure I didn't kill him. Do you really think that Killer Moth is dumber than a guy he's been dodging for months now?"

Jade was actually impressed. Ben had noted that, for all of Eli's intelligence, the boy sometimes had a bad case of tunnel-vision and grew a little rash. It was what made sparring against him so easy for Jade. The fact that Eli was using what people (correctly) assumed about him against them was impressive. He was using their trap for him against them.

"So who are we aiming for; Moth or Kelley?" Jade saw Eli twisting the dial around the right lens of his goggles, possibly changing or correcting his vision.

"Neither," Eli answered. "I'm going to go there myself. I don't think that Killer Moth needs Kelley but Nightwing needs Killer Moth alive so he can continue to track down Whale." Eli's hands twisted the dials on the lens of his goggles, returning them to their normal mode and focal point. "Firefly, on the other hand, I don't care. But we can't kill Nightwing and Batgirl."

"Batman, I know." Jade responded before sighing. "Alright, I have movement in the bar. Apparently your new friends engaged the place into a fist fight- they're winning by the way. How long do you think Killer Moth will take to show up?"

Eli stepped away from the ledge and sat on the roof.

"I'll give him three minutes." Eli answered.

"And then we do the job." Jade voiced, already aiming for her first shot.

"Then we do the job."

Jade heard his resolve which contradicted his true feelings. Eli was not as okay with killing as the news made him to be. Then again, no one in their sane mind truly was. Even Ben had a strict code about when lethal force became deadly force or vice versa. Jade had adopted these rules as well and, to a degree, so had Eli. However, Eli was much more conscience about it than Jade was.

Tires screeching to a halt cause Jade to regain her focus on the job. She moved the scope around until she found five newcomers outside of the bar, each with a firearm in hand. Worse, landing in front of them, were Killer Moth and Firefly.

"Your plan actually worked. Moth, Firefly, and five guys just showed up." Jade commented as she aimed at Killer Moth. "So are you going to be the inevitable hero that saves the day?"

"Like I said," Eli retorted. "I'm not a hero."

"Well, look at it like this," said Jade. "If you go down there and kill every Mozgov in sight, you've done this shitty city justice. If you go down there and kill Killer Moth or Firefly, same thing. Hell, if you decide to go down there and beat the hell out of that Nightwing guy and Bat-bitch, you'll be a hero to someone. But we both know that you're not just going to sit up here and wait."

Eli realized how the collective definitions of the word "heroic" would set the paradigm for his next course of action. He was looking to avenge his father by getting rid of the Mozgov Family. That would ultimately do Gotham City a favor. Disregarding the likely bloodshed, he would most likely be considered a hero for eliminating one of the crime families that haunted the eastern United States. People would herald him for as long as any internet trend lasted, if not more.

But he was no hero.

Sighing, Eli pulled the hood of his jacket over his masked head and rose to his feet. His father sought to protect the country from outside forces. Eli found that idea to be noble, but foolish. There was no way that Malcolm, or the U.S for that matter, could end the hostilities towards the country no matter how many so-called terrorists they killed. Hornet, however, had the chance to end one problem now and never look back.

"Going to play hero?" Jade openly mocked, the taunt in her voice not missed at all. Hornet did not answer as he fired a line from one of his gauntlets and zipped away. Jade smiled beneath her mask. "Not a hero my ass."

As for Eli, he was currently loathing the fact that as soon as he acted, he would most likely lose one or the other. Truthfully, he only wanted Firefly for as long as it would take him to beat the hell out of the guy for making him miss Steven earlier. Other than that, his true goals were Killer Moth and the Hound. One (Moth) was just for questioning while the other (Hound) was a more personal reason.

A loud gunshot echoed throughout the area and Eli could already assume that there was one thug lying on the pavement dead from Jade's shot. He picked his pace up, still a little uncomfortable about running from one rough to another. He took his eyes off of the space in front of him for a second to see if he could spot his target.

Another gunshot roared and this time Eli could see the poor bastard drop to the ground after his head splattered from impact. Jade had once commented that Eli had the better aim between them. Eli was now calling her bluff.

"I found ya!" Hornet came to a screeching halt before leaping, tucking, and rolling to his left as Firefly appeared in front of him, spraying flames with his flamethrower.

Eli's heart pounded. This was _not_ how this was supposed to go but he'd be damned if he got this close to his father's killer _again_ and lost his chance. The Yellow Jacket made a quick move for the fire escape of the building he was on. Weeks of chasing Jade around Cheshire Square had Eli more than capable of his descent with a flame-wielding lunatic chasing after him.

But now it was time for a little stage magic.

"Stay still!" Firefly cackled as he flew after Eli.

The teenager was quick to drop one of his smoke screens onto the escape, making sure not to accidentally throw the sphere through the bars onto the ground. The flash blinded Firefly and the following smoke billowed enough for Eli to make his silent escape.

Firefly growled when his vision returned. His prey was nowhere to be found and Killer Moth was paying him to bring in the up-and-coming Yellow Jacket. Though, it was safe to say that Firefly was more than likely going to kill the homicidal insect the moment he got the chance.

A whizzing sound was heard from Firefly before an astronomical amount of pain shot from his left arm through his entire body. He turned to see that a grappling hook about the size of a large spider had buried its hooks inside of arm, just above the elbow. Before Firefly had the time to turn to see who had fired the cursed thing, the line began to reel the pyromaniac downwards.

Eli grunted when the jetpack (which he was curious about) on Firefly's back began to let out more flames, thrusting harder to counter Hornet's pull. Eli had debated on whether he should waste a bullet on Firefly or not and had decided against it. He would need them for the Mozgov members later. That meant that he would have to get to Firefly and beat him without the use of weapons.

But that was beginning to become a problem.

"You'll have to do better than that you fucking wasp!" Firefly shouted, the insect insult not missed.

Hornet raised his right arm at Firefly and fired his second grappling hook from his gauntlet, this one pinning Firefly in his left shoulder. Again Hornet began to pull the criminal downwards while Firefly continued to pull away. The Yellow Jacket could feel his feet slipping on the pavement, unable to out-muscle the power of a jetpack. So with no other choice, Hornet leapt into the air and allowed his grappling hooks to pull him towards his target.

Firefly felt the pull on him lessen and looked over his shoulder, regretting his decision. The Yellow Jacket was closing in on him and fast- too fast for him to do anything about it. The New Camford hero was zipping towards him and a reckless speed.

"Gah!" Firefly groaned out when Hornet tackled him from behind, the two flipping and twirling towards the ground.

Falling, Eli thought, was a vital key to his training with Ben. Ben had the belief that if one knew how to fall then they knew how to pick themselves up. The statement was not as nearly philosophical as it was literal.

At the opportune moment, Hornet pushed away from Firefly to tumble safely out of the alley onto the sidewalk while Firefly smacked into a closed dumpster. The maneuvered hurt as it should but Eli was able to stand up afterwards with relative ease. And by "relative ease" he meant faster than he once was.

Firefly was also able to get to his feet in time to see the apparent psychotic Yellow Jacket approaching him. Firefly threw an unsuccessful punch that was met by the Hornet's left forearm which was protected by the gauntlet that fired his zip-lines.

"Fuck!" Firefly hollered in pain before the Hornet grabbed the man and kneed him in his stomach.

Hornet grabbed the back of the man's suit and hurled him back into the dumpster again. He was slightly satisfied to see Firefly sink into a seated position as he glared down at Firefly.

"Killer Moth helped the Hound escape," To Firefly, it was like speaking to a cybernetic Satan. The deep distorted voice was as disturbing as the survivors said it was, if not more. "Tell me why!"

"You'll burn before I do that!" Firefly shot back.

Eli was not in the mood. His foot was raised before he repeatedly kneed Firefly in the man's chest. Every shot seemed like a page out of his recent personal life however. The first was for his mom's in-laws. The next was because of the fight that Sam (and admittedly George) caused. The third and fourth was because of his lack of information on his father's outings.

Hornet paused and saw Firefly slump over to his side. The Yellow Jacket shook his head and rolled Firefly onto his back before mounting him. Punch and punch rained down from the irate Hornet like a madman defending his children from the pyromaniac.

Eli stopped and looked at the man encased in the dark green costume with red eye lens. He had a limited time to catch the Hound and Killer Moth and said time was running out due to the tight-lipped psycho he had beaten to the ground, literally!

Pushed for time, Hornet grabbed Killer Moth's flamethrower and pressed it against the wound in the man's right arm. Firefly howled out in pain, and pleasure, from the burning sensation of his own weapon being dug into his skin.

"Tell me or I swear I will light your arm up like a cheap cigarette!" threatened Hornet.

Firefly cackled. "Do it! Light me up baby!"

Hornet was going to do just that until he heard the whooshing of Killer Moth zooming towards him. Thinking quickly, the Yellow Jacket pointed the flamethrower in front of him and pulled the trigger. The flames altered Killer Moth's trajectory, given Hornet enough time to get up.

Killer Moth circled around, his Moth-gun in his hands.

"You won't ruin my reign!" Killer Moth declared as he fired for the Yellow Jacket's position.

Eli was able to move out of the way as the liquid hit the ground, a sizzling hiss catching Eli's attention.

"Acid…" New Camford's Killer Bee deduced quietly seconds before he watched Killer Moth circle around in the sky. "I need to get that gun out of his hand fast."

Killer Moth was unimpressed with the fact that Hornet was actually running away. He chased after the vigilante, determined to melt him into the ground. Firefly would catch up later- if the poor bastard got his bearings straight- and his newly minted Moth Men (former members of the local gangs) would find him and dismember the Yellow Jacket.

"A wasp that can't fly," Killer Moth spat as he chased after his target. "What a useless insect you are!"

Killer Moth flew out of the alleyway, intent on finding Hornet. He was no longer looking to work with the Yellow Jacket, oh no. That ship sank the moment he realized that the bastard could not even go after the Hound like he was supposed to! Instead, Killer Moth found _Nightwing_ with _Batgirl_ of all people! That was _not_ how his plan was supposed to go!

"You can't hide from me Yellow Jacket!" Killer Moth proclaimed as he landed on the road. His eyes scanned the streets from behind his full face helmet. "You aren't even a _real_ hero! Just a crappy cop wearing a mask!"

Killer Moth was livid. This should have been a real simple transaction. The Yellow Jacket would show up to kill the Hound. Killer Moth would reveal that he had let Kelley go for the gunman and start a negotiation. If, and only if, the Yellow Jacket refused Killer Moth's would Killer Moth kill both Hornet and Hound in one fatal swoop.

But no, _oh no_ , that is _not_ what happened!

That annoying Batgirl had to interfere with Nightwing of all people. The decoys at the bar were enough to at least survive an onslaught from Hornet, but not the combined forces of Nightwing and Batgirl. But it did not stop there. Not only did the duo beat the men in the bar but they had taken the Hound while the damn Yellow Jacket shot his back-up from afar!

Killer Moth used his left hand to press a button near the temple of his mask, changing his vision to infrared sight. He was going to find the Yellow Jacket if it was the last thing he did tonight.

The purest forms of silence came afterwards. It brought Drury Walker back to his days of being alone in his cell, reading clippings about Batman. That silence was the very foundation and main ingredient to Drury's studying how to become a better, more successful Killer Moth.

This silence, however, soon grew heavier than what Killer Moth was comfortable with. In the silence and solitude of him walking down a lifeless street, he realized that he was now being stalked by the Yellow Jacket. The thoughts that a bullet could come zipping to him and put an end to his miserable crime life- and life in general= was distressing to say the least. The beat down to Firefly was considered a mercy beating when the Yellow Jacket was considered.

A quiet thump caused Killer Moth to whip his body around quickly and scan the area as thoroughly as his panicked mind would allow him. He was debating his entire plan now. Just how would killing the Yellow Jacket put him on the same level as Batman? If anything, it just proved that he was _only_ capable of defeating minor league heroes.

Worse… What if the Yellow Jacket won? What if some gun-slinging badass from the hero-less city of New Camford proved to be the superior bug between the two of them? This would probably be the last time he would be involved in a high-end takeover like Whale's. And the respect he had recently gained amongst the citizens of Bludhaven and Gotham City would be over in a heartbeat.

Almost as if it never existed in the first place…

A small sting resonated from the back of Killer Moth's left shoulder. The man turned to see what had caused the minor discomfort and gasped at the sight of a dart lodged into his skin. He turned his head further to see the Yellow Jacket walking towards him.

"No… I…" Killer Moth felt the drug take its effect, his arms growing heavy first and then his legs. "I… I should win! I'm… Killer Mo-"

Hornet would never let the man finished, a front thrust kick to the kneeling man's face ending the sentence before its completion. Eli removed the dart from Killer Moth's shoulder and looked back towards the alleyway he had left Firefly in.

"It can't be that easy," Hornet muttered to himself. Hearing mumbling from the alley, Eli grabbed his two handguns. "I didn't think so…"

To his surprise, Nightwing stepped out of the shadows into the light from the streetlamps. Batgirl followed behind Nightwing though Eli's main concern was his temporary ally. Holstering his weapons, Hornet cautiously walked towards Nightwing.

"Firefly and Moth are alive," Hornet stated. "Where is Kelley?"

Nightwing held a hand up. "He's tied up, ready to be sent to Blackgate. And before you go there and find him, there's something you should know." Hornet took in a deep breath, his chest rising with contempt. "There is someone else involved with Army Ant's death. Someone who had something to do with other deaths as well. A 'gamer' or something. Kelley confirmed this with me which means that you're looking for the wrong person."

"I'll find out myself," Hornet was stopped when Nightwing grabbed his wrist. "Let go."

"There are three guys dead due to a bullet wound from a rifle and Firefly most likely has a concussion," Nightwing voiced. "If this was anyone else, we'd take them right now. But I think I can trust you. Don't make me wrong about you."

Eli was pissed. Who was this guy to deny him of finally putting a bullet through the Hound's head? Not only that, but Eli had just wasted twenty minutes battling Firefly and Killer Moth, two inconveniences that should have been locked up had it not been for Nightwing and Batman letting them escape.

But… Eli then realized that he must have missed something for Nightwing to have this information. Interviews or police reports that the boy had either skipped through or skipped over completely. That, plus he still had to get back to his aunt's with a pretty bad scrape on his left elbow. He just did not have the energy to combat against Nightwing, Batgirl, and the GCPD to get Kelley.

Kelley would live tonight.

"Fine," grunted the Yellow Jacket.

"Good," Nightwing released Eli's wrist and dug into one the compartments of his utility belt. He pulled out a small device and handed it to Eli. "With Moth down, we can start destroying his caches one by one. I'm going back to Bludhaven tonight to do my end. You can reach me with that."

Eli looked at the small device. It looked like a toy walkie-talkie with its small antennae and dial to turn on and change channels.

"If you use this to find me," Hornet said as he pocketed the communicator. "I will kill your ass with one shot." Hornet then glanced at the downed Killer Moth. "But… I'll find the rest of his stashes in New Camford. Meantime, you should find out what Whale has in store."

"Will do," Nightwing answered as the hero in yellow pulled his hood up and raised his right arm up. "Hey, stay safe. With people knowing that you're going after random mobsters and criminals- not to mention the cops hating you as well- there'll be a lot of people after you."

"Yeah," Batgirl added. "If you need help, we're here."

Hornet gave a noticeable scoff before firing his grappling hook and reeling away. Richard looked to see Barbara now crossing her arms, glaring at the retreating figure with anger in her eyes.

"I take it that he hates me." Nightwing chuckled at Batgirl's comment while walking towards the downed Killer Moth.

"He's just like that. He'll come around when he gets to know you," the teen male paused. "Then again… It's not like I know everything about the guy."

Batgirl sighed. "At least we got Firefly and Killer Moth. I'm actually surprised that he could take them out by himself. You said that he hasn't been doing this for long."

"I learned a long time ago that Killer Moth has a glass jaw," said Nightwing as he zip-tied Killer Moth's wrists together. The sound of growing sirens caused former Boy Wonder to exhale. "Besides, it's his job to stop those that does wrong. That's his entire MO."

"Are you profiling him for some futuristic team of yours?" teased Barbara, knowing Richard's dream years ago of having a team of heroes too "young and inexperienced" for the Justice League.

Nightwing shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe. I won't find that out until I return to New Camford and we put an end to Tobias Whale's organization. And then we'll see how much of a team player he is."

"You guys can have the whole 'birds and bees' puns going." Batgirl mused.

"The Bird and the Bee? Kind of catchy." Nightwing joked. "Think a certain redhead bat would join us?"

A cop car came to a screeching halt yards in front of the pair.

"Let's deal with this first," Batgirl commented.

"Ditto."

* * *

Returning to his aunt's apartment had been the last thing Eli wanted to do. As soon as he returned to Jade's hotel room, he had called Mallory to find out that his cousin was not okay with his absence. He had explained that he needed time to cool down, which Mallory agreed, but he was not ready to come back just yet. Mallory had threatened to search for him which is when Eli ended the call abruptly.

Now, after slipping out of his heroic costume and back into his civilian clothes, Eli lied on the spare bed in Jade's room with his laptop perched next to him. He lied on his left side, his back to the bathroom just incase Jade wanted to continue her "harmless teasing".

"So," Jade departed from the bathroom in black basketball shorts and a white sports bra. "Impressed that I hit two guys with one shot?"

Eli eyed her over his laptop. "Impressed that you didn't hit me."

"Well," Jade practically skipped to her bed and hopped onto it. "Now that we have that done, tomorrow night we can actually have some _real_ fun." Eli groaned. "Oh don't be like that. I'm sure you'll find time to squeeze in your little girlfriend."

"I'm sure." Eli said as he continued to search for police reports of his dad's death.

He was casually scrolling through articles until he heard Jade let out a groan that sounded very close to a sexual moan. Curious, he gazed to see the girl sprawled on her bed. Eli cursed his newfound need to scan _everything_ , seeing how her stomach muscles were accented by her arching her body slightly off of the bed as she stretched.

Grunting, Eli snapped his gaze back to his screen. "You're doing that on purpose."

Unable to help it, Jade laughs at being caught. Again, Eli was pretty damn smart. Teasing him was still a rather pleasing way to wind down from a job well done. It was only hilarious to see how hard Eli tried to stay faithful to Barbara. It was chivalrous to say the least but too easy to pick on for Jade.

"Seriously," Jade told Eli with a smile on her face. "I need you to be focused tomorrow. These guys won't be easy, even for one of your plans… And you do have a plan, right?"

"Yes," said Eli. "And who said that we're going to find the Ghost Dragons?"

Jade was now confused. Eli had found information on who had Carolyn. He knew exactly where they were located too. So why not go to the Ghost Dragons to find Carolyn? It only made sense that they did, right?

Sensing her confusion, Eli looked up at Jade. "When I said that I knew when Carolyn got arrested, I wasn't talking about the people she was arrested with."

"Then who are we going after?"

Eli answered her by typing something onto his laptop, seconds before turning to reveal the screen to Jade.

"Officer Mo Anderson."

Jade actually licked her lip at the plan. It was dangerous and ingenious, two things that secretly riled the teen up in the wrong ways. Her eyes gazed up to see Eli's confident look and she smirked.

She chose right with this one.

* * *

Hours later, Steven Kelley sat in a holding cell at the GCPD. Killer Moth had already been transferred to Blackgate Penitentiary while Firefly was in another holding cell waiting for his ride to Arkham Asylum. His public defender had done a shitty job trying to "defend" him earlier and Commissioner Gordon had already released a public statement about how they were going to throw the book at the Hound.

There were four others in the cell with Kelley, two apparently drunk beyond measures and passed out, a tall thin man clutched onto the bars with desperate eyes, and finally a short man sat uncomfortably close to the urinal as if he was protecting it from the others. None of them were threats to the Hound. Hell, none even knew that he was the Hound.

Ironic considered the thin man was the son of one of the Hound's pursuits.

But to them, Steven Kelley was what he appeared to be; a balding middle aged white male with beady brown eyes and a bad comb-over. He was average built due to his years of always chasing after his next prey although he admits that he was out of his prime. His arms were covered in dark auburn hair, the same color of hair that once covered his head completely. He was not an intimidating figure but he surely appeared to have problems like anyone else born in Bludhaven and raised in the Gotham Narrows.

"Who are you?" the loud question broke Steven's concentration for the moment. He knew that voice. It was Firefly's. "Wait… Wait what are you… Help!"

The Hound was now a little rattled. Had the Yellow Jacket actually come for them? Could he be _worse_ than the rumors? The chances were small but… But there was a possibility right?

Footsteps approached the cell before Steven was able to see three figures; two cops and one being a man who he met earlier.

"So," The blond-haired man said with a posh voice. "You inevitably are apprehended by Nightwing and Batgirl, hmm? I can't have my lower level bosses being defeated that easily."

"N-No, it wasn't like that," Steven stammered as one of the officers opened the cell, the thin man previously at the bars making a retreat to the far back wall. "It was Killer Moth and Firefly! They set me up!"

The man sighed. "You know that I don't share my toys, Kelley. You are supposed to eliminate the heroes before they reach level two. And do you know what just happened? The Yellow Jacket has reached level two."

"I can fix it. I can kill him! Just give me a chance and-"

"Oh, you will undoubtedly get your opportunity. But if he reaches the next boss," the blond spoke. "Then it is game over."

Steven took in a deep breath. He did not know the blond man's name. He did not know where the man even came from. But he did know that this blond young man was solely responsible for most of the vigilante deaths in New Camford alone. The man orchestrated them and thought of it as some game being played by the heroes to save their doomed city. No one had surpassed level two to this date.

And for the Hound's sake, no one ever would.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** So here is the second part to Insecticide. For those wondering, yes the man in the end will eventually become akin to Eli's Lex Luthor in this story. Who is he and what he truly wants will be explained later. Next chapter will be Eli's last day in Gotham which will unveil Bronze Tiger's purpose in New Camford. As always, if you have any questions, thoughts, or comments leave a PM or review and I'll respond as soon as possible. Au revoir.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Warnings:** The following chapter has mild language, use of the "N" word, and violence and is rated T for Teen.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Fourteen: The Best Told Lies

Eli hissed in pain as something aggravated his wound on his leftknee. His eyes shot open to find Mallory seated next to his body on the couch. Half of his mind told him to just kick her off the couch- and potentially out of the apartment altogether. However, he sat up and gave his cousin a harsh glare.

And to think he had just gotten to sleep.

"What do you want Mal?" Eli groggily grumbled, his eyes having a hard time focusing on Mallory's displeased face.

"You know what," shot back his cousin. "You can't just leave here for hours because we don't hate Aunt Leila like you do! You acting out don't make you look any better!"

Eli was honestly not in the mood. He had dealt with Firefly and Killer Moth, learned that there was another person involved with his father's death, and was unable to question the Hound like he wanted. All in all, last night proved to be rather fruitless with his accomplishment being that he had put Firefly away for burning the building earlier and he had momentarily stopped guns being sold to Whale's organization thanks to Killer Moth being apprehended.

But nothing really important happened last night other than that.

"Jacks, listen," Mallory said quietly. "You're angry about Uncles Miles's death, we get that. But taking it out on your mom is… It's stupid. So just stop it, okay?"

"Mallory, shut up." Eli's statement gained a look of disbelief from Mallory. "I know, okay? I know that I have to let that shit go but it won't happen overnight. Stop worrying about me."

"Stop worry…! Eli, you ran out of here and didn't come back till one in the morning! I _have_ to worry because we're not in New Camford, we're in Gotham!" Mallory retaliated. "Let's not forget that some angry black kid is walking around with a chip on his shoulder like he has to beat the living hell out of the first person who asks him how great his day was. You're a hazard Jacks, like it or not."

Eli only shook his head. If only she knew… "Mal, I'm fine. I went with Barbara for a while and then I just went walking around. I even…" Eli paused. "I even saw _him_."

"'Him' who?"

"The Batman." The lie was not accepted well judging by Mallory's cynical scoff. "I'm serious here Mal. It wasn't too far from Barbara's place. He was gliding overhead like some demonic… I don't even know. And then he swooped down into an alley and disappeared."

Eli's tale came from an account Hannah had read to him last summer. He knew that Mallory did not read any Batman-sighting blogs online, caring more about her social media than some people talking about seeing a vigilante. And as he predicted, Mallory's face shifted into that of a shocked expression.

"You're not shitting me, are you?" Eli shook his head no. "Christ! What'd you do? I mean, was he after you or something?"

Eli shrugged. "I don't know. I didn't see him when I got to the apartment so, maybe not? Mal, the guy's eyes were like glowing white and I could see them from the sidewalk. Like literally see them clearly."

"Well… It kind of makes sense…" Mallory began. Eli frowned and sat up straighter to show that she had actually gained his attention. "Rumor is that Commissioner Gordon is working with Batman. Maybe the commish asked him to keep an eye on his daughter's new suitor?"

"Really Mal. Who in the hell says the word 'suitor' anymore?" responded the teen with a small smile.

"I do. That's who." Mallory answered him. "But seriously Jacks, I'm worried about you. You're… Different now."

"You woke me up at five in the morning to tell me that I'm different?" stated the boy as he stretched his arms over his head. "Mallory, ever since Mama taught me how to say 'mersi' I was different. But I'm fine. I promise you. I just have to let things go. That's it."

Eli had one goal in sight now. It was to get Mallory to leave him the hell alone so that he could go back to sleep. He was beginning to run out of "polite" ways of showing it. By now, it was a good thing that he left his suit and weapons with Jade.

"Fine Jacks," Mallory said. "By the way, Derrick is coming by for James. He'll be here around eleven or something like that. Try not to have you girlfriend here before then, alright?"

Eli gave his cousin a curious glance. "Are you two still seeing each other?" Mallory looked taken back, as if the accusation actually took a swing at her. Her reaction caused Eli to snort quietly and lie back down. "Your secret is safe with me Mal. Though you might want to tell Aunt Carla. Lord knows I won't die for you and him."

"He's different Eli. And I haven't really talked to him since you got here. Kind of hard to sneak him in with my nosey baby cousin here." quietly voiced Mallory. "I don't expect you to understand but- "

"I understand that he left you when he found out you were pregnant and had it not been for my mom, child support wouldn't even be a conversation." Eli interrupted. "But if you like him, fine. One of us has to keep an open mind I guess."

Eli saw the look on Mallory's face. He had seen it plenty of times during their lives; her look of deep regret that she only did whenever she had been caught in a lie. Eli realized that Mallory's relationship with her ex was something big to her and that she was probably too afraid to tell him about it out of fear of judgment.

Eli released a quiet breath. "Look, I won't go out and kill him, alright? I just… I just don't like to see some asshole take advantage of you, you know? Just 'cause he was too pussy to take care of a kid he made too?"

"Eli-"

"But I'll let it go. For you." Eli felt Mallory move from her spot before her lips found his forehead. "A 'thank you' will do for now on Mal. I really don't want to know where you put those lips when you're with him."

"Mersi, little cousin." Mallory thanked quietly.

Eli said nothing as she left the living room to head back for bed. Derrick was never going to be on Eli's list of most pleasurable people but Eli knew that, for Mallory's and James's sake, he had to be more civil to the guy.

Of course, that didn't mean that Hornet couldn't pop up and scare the living hell out of Derrick…

* * *

Hours later, Barbara sat at the front desk of the library near her home with a bored expression on her face. Normally she would love to see the young(er) minds so eagerly ready to read and journey to the land of imagination but today was different. Today she had a lot on her mind that needed to be sorted out and could not sort any of it out here at the library.

The first, and most pressing problem, was that Firefly was killed in holdings last night. Ballistics from the Batcave determined that the gun used on Garfield Lynns was different from the wounds from the murders at the docks a few nights back. That ruled out Hornet as the possible suspect of the murders- something Barbara was not okay with. She had given up on bringing the unhinged so-called hero down. The problem was that Hornet was right. Her father had crooked cops on his payroll and they were now killing guys in holdings before they entered Blackgate or Arkham.

The second issue Barbara had was the second part of her morning talk with Bruce. The man known as the Hound was missing. His escape was thought to be tied to the murder of Firefly, further writing off Hornet as the likable suspect. It was something that triggered Richard as well. The teen was tired of putting people away just for them to get out- and Barbara agreed with that. What she was not okay with was how quick Nightwing was to go out and search for the Hound.

Then again… Hornet was still in Gotham. If he found Steven Kelley before Nightwing did, there was a chance that the Hound would be the next victim of New Camford's Yellow Jacket.

Well, every dog has his day right?

Barbara sighed as she thought of the third person on her mind, Elias Jackson. Eli had boggled her mind. Barbara had attempted to file him like her books, put him in the right spot for his genre just as she did every other guy. Yet, every time she was ready to write him off as a somewhat arrogant jock or a guy going through a tough time, her surprised her with some insightful statement or a gentle side that made her take him off of the shelf and attempt to categorize him as something else.

Oh, and when they kissed.

It was crazy to think that one make-out session would be all it took to hold Barbara's attention but she'd be damned if she denied how great it was. How his hands seemed to hold her hips still while his lips meshed with hers perfectly. And that brown skinned toned body that-

"Hey Babs," Barbara nearly jumped out of her chair at Richard's voice. The dark-haired teen boy smirked, knowing he had caught her in a daydream while she fixed her glasses. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No _Richard_ , you're not." Barbara hotly snapped back, keeping her voice library-approved. She already had to deal with Batman popping up everywhere. Did his ward really have to do the same thing?

Richard sighed. "I wanted to talk to you… It's about Eli." Barbara gave a worried look which made Richard hold his hands up in a calming fashion. "No, he's fine. It's just… Well, I want to know if he's…"

"If he's what?" Barbara whispered.

Richard leaned on the desk, his face nearing hers. "Is he the Hornet?"

Barbara blinked at the question. It was a question she had asked herself earlier before rejecting the idea. She knew of Eli's deep detestation of vigilantes- heroes and villains alike. She had no idea where it sprung from or how deep it ran, but she knew from the fiery hateful look in his eyes whenever he spoke about them that there was no way in hell he'd be caught dead in a mask.

"No!" Barbara whispered with a light laugh. "No, Eli hates vigilantes. It's one of the lines I know not to cross with him. Why?"

"Well," Richard released another sigh as he spoke. "I was doing some digging, on Eli that is. I found out that his dad was killed by the Sullivan Family for a gambling debt. And from the Hornet, I learned that his dad was killed by the Mozgov Family. No surprise that those two families are partners or that he has no care about going through both families, right?"

Barbara only shrugged. "Many people die from gambling debts Dick. New Camford does have casinos Dick. That doesn't sound so rare."

"True but think about the timing. Hornet appears in Gotham the same time that Eli does. Plus I know that the Hornet patrols the area called Cheshire Square." Richard pointed out. "Too big of a coincidence there right?"

"No he doesn't," countered Barbara. "Firstly, Eli lives in Mancastle Hills, I checked. And Hornet does Downtown New Camford- not just Cheshire Square. I thought the same thing as well but Eli hates vigilantes. It's something personal like Bruce and guns."

"No way." Richard responded.

Barbara nodded. "Yes way. He hates them. That's why he can never know about you know and my dad being friends with you know."

Richard stood up straight with a quiet whistle. "I didn't know it was that bad. I mean, are you sure he's just not throwing you off his trail?"

"Are you doubting my judgment?" Richard knew better than to answer that question. "Listen, I know how weird it is seeing Eli and Hornet show up at the same time but you know how ruthless Hornet is. Eli regrets fighting some bullies that were picking on his brother. Doesn't really scream 'Killer Bee' to me."

"I guess…" Richard's response clearly revealed his lack of conviction of her statement. "I'm going to look at some stuff, just to be sure."

Barbara released quiet sight. She knew how stubborn Richard- and Bruce- were. "Fine Dick. Just don't make things weird. I don't want him to even think that I'm stalking him. Like I said, he already hates vigilantes. I don't want to give him to hate me too."

"You really like him, huh?" questioned a sincere Richard.

"I'm starting to. So please, _please_ , let me be Barbara for once and not Batgirl." requested Barbara.

"Fine, fine," Richard responded. "I'm going to go look something up though. "I'll call you if I find something out."

Richard walked away from the desk with a smile while Barbara shook her head. She wanted Richard to find out who Hornet was so that they could have a long talk about murdering suspects and criminals. However, it was a long-shot putting Elias Jackson and the Yellow Jacket together. Eli seemed to deeply care about his neighborhood, family, city, friends and Hornet… Well Hornet seemed to care only about his wants and needs.

Barbara exhaled quietly and placed her left elbow on the desk, resting her chin in her hand. Now where was she?

Oh yeah… That light-skinned toned body pressed against hers…

* * *

Derrick was late. Those words echoed in Eli's head like a madman possessed pacing in his padded cell. Derrick was late. Derrick was late. Derrick was fucking late!

Eli's anger was not directed at his cousin at all. For once, Leila had nothing to do with his current mood either. His fury was pointed at the entirety of the Gotham City Police Department and the Hound's escape. He had talked to Jade, who was on her way over to his aunt's apartment, and had already checked in with Nick to get the inner details.

Apparently there was a dirty copy on the force that killed Firefly and helped Steven Kelley escape. Who could have _possibly_ thought that there was a _dirty cop_ on the goddamn _GCPD_?!

A childish laugh came from the back room where Mallory's son was currently watching _Looney Tunes_ in Carla's bedroom. If the boy's dad had been here on time, then Eli would have been halfway done with this stupid job for Jade and one step closer to tracking the Hound down all over again.

A knock came on the door. "Open up Jackson. We have a problem."

Jade. The one person that Eli actually wanted to see now was the sword-wielding ninja girl he had accidentally run into on the stairs. If there was anyone who could understand his need to put a bullet through a man's head, it was Jade.

Eli opened the door and saw her with his two bags and an extra one.

"What's all this?" he asked her.

"My so-called contact squealed on me." Jade answered as she brushed by him and made a beeline for the couch. "Don't worry, he's dead."

"Who's dead?" James stepped into the room, his wide childish eyes looking at Jade with curiosity.

"…" Obviously, Jade was not all too comfortable with a kid nearby. "You told me he's leaving."

"He is," responded Eli as he closed and locked the entry door and stepped towards the couch. "James, go back and watch cartoons. Your dad should be here soon, alright?"

"Okay Eli." James said before turning around and doing what he was previously doing.

Jade released a short scoff. "Looks like those daycare skills are paying off." She rounded to Eli with a leveled glare. "But now we have to talk about two things. One, we need to find your cop buddy. And two, we need to find your buddy the cops lost."

"I know," Eli spoke in quietly. "But the problem is that I don't know where that bitch ran off to. Pisses me the fuck off that they even let him out in the first place!"

"They didn't 'let him out', he escaped. And you'd better get your head out of your ass to see that or we're screwed either way." Jade told Eli. "The cops failed you and the Ghost Dragons are onto our movements. So I really could use one of your bright ideas."

Eli sighed heavily and shoved his hands into the side pockets of his jean shorts. He had no idea how to kidnap a cop. Hell, it's not like on a normal day he would ever have to even think about doing so. But when a group of international drug ninjas were protecting said cop, things got more complicated.

And that was just half of it.

Eli assumed that there were guys in the GCPD uniforms searching for him for payback for what he did to Officer Jensen the previous day. They would be looking to gun him down regardless what he was caught doing so he had to avoid them at all costs. Or be prepared for a full-out gunfight with Gotham's so-called finest.

Eli made his way to the couch and sat down. "So what did you tell your contact? You know, before you undoubtedly put a sword down his throat."

"I told him we were looking Ling- the leader's girl. He gave me some instructions to one of their safe houses in Chinatown." Eli snorted at the location. "We can make generic and racists jokes later. For now we have a small problem." Jade paused and sighed. "I told him that the Hornet was looking for her…"

Eli soon understood the problem. These people were looking for him. He had no idea just how fast word spread amongst Gotham's criminals but he was sure that they all knew about his "meetings" with the Sullivan and Mozgov low-lives prior to last night. They were readying for him…

Worse, they had cops on the payroll, one being Eli's current target, to help them. There would literally be men and women trained with guns teaming with armed ninjas protecting their drug operation.

All in all, too much for the two of them.

"Where'd you store the weapons we got from Moth?" questioned Eli.

"…" Jade opened her mouth though a bang on the door stopped her from answering.

Eli was annoyed but got up to answer the door. Of course, standing on the other side was the clean shaven pretty boy, Derrick. The dark-skinned teen father stared at Eli with an uneasy look on his face while Eli clutched the doorknob tighter…

…Until he remembered his promise with Mallory and sighed heavily.

"I'll go get James," Eli told him as calmly as possible. "Stay here."

"You still ain't let that shit go man? We good, Mal and I." Derrick replied. "I just want to make sure she and Little Jay are taking care for."

"Is that why you ran off when she was pregnant with him?" Eli shot back before turning around. "James! Your dad's here!"

"Bruh I've done time since the last time we spoke. Don't- "

"You did six months in juvie. Don't feed me no bullshit like you had an epiphany." Eli replied.

"Mal said you'll be on a period 'cause your pops got clapped by-"

Eli's fist banged against the door, stopping Derrick from finishing the statement. The boy from Connecticut took in several deep breaths to calm himself down. Eli was not in the mood to think about his father's death due to Kelley escaping custody last night. He was honestly seconds away from snapping on _someone_.

"Hi Daddy!" Thankfully James chose that moment to scamper into the room, barely able to carry the backpack that Mallory had packed for him earlier.

"'sup Little Jay?" Derrick greeted. "You ready to bounce?"

"Yeah! Bye Eli! Bye other lady!" James's farewell had Derrick over Eli's shoulder at Jade, who appeared to be just as testy as Eli was.

Eli saw Derrick's eyes fall onto Jade's figure and stepped in front of him. "You have your son. Get the fuck out of my face now."

Jade actually grinned as Eli closed the door before Derrick could respond. She was rather confused about how Eli saw her though. On occasion, she had caught him glancing at her, especially whenever she "accidentally" got into a position that struck a suggestive pose. But Eli had never pursued her. It was almost as if he had to check himself every time they were around each other.

"Fucking bitch," Eli cursed as he walked back to the couch and grabbed the bag designated for his laptop. "So what do we have, hmm? A cop protected by some drug cartel in Chinatown?"

"Not so sure we're going to Chinatown." Jade replied as Eli placed his laptop on his lap and opened it. "If the Hornet was as good as they thought, putting the alleged target and the real target at the same place at the same time is a little stupid, don't you think?"

"Yeah but Officer Anderson doesn't know that we're after him. Does he?" Jade shook her head for no. "If they have cops patrolling the area, we're going to have to be careful. Pick him out of the crowd and get him out before there's a big mess."

Jade sighed. "Yeah, well it's going to be harder than that. Well, unless I just hand you over to them. Even then, I doubt we'd both live that."

Eli sighed as he typed in information that he knew, hoping Nick was at the shed and could fill in some blanks. Carolyn Wu-San was practically a ghost and tracking her would have been impossible if Nick had not helped him. Of course, Malcolm had nothing on the Ghost Dragons or anything close to the sort. He was going in blind on this one.

"If this goes sideways," Jade told him. "Kill anything that moves and not in green and let's get the hell out of there, got it? No point in both of us dying for information that we can still get if this doesn't pan out."

"I'll keep that in mind." responded Eli. "Let's go before I change my mind. And one day you're going to tell me how we end up in these situations."

"You were a mark that I used to get around New Camford and find my dad. You used my hatred of debt against me and used your favor to get Ben to help train you." Jade threw back in a dull tone. "Add in the fact that you need me to stay alive and I need you to get information and you'll understand why we're here doing this now."

Eli just sat quietly. Jade had just admitted to using him. Oddly, he trusted her more now because she admitted it aloud. He had used her as well to scout out Bookworm's possible locations but had long buried any guilt he had once learning that she was more than just trouble on two legs- she was more or less death on two legs.

"And if you're wondering," Jade concluded. "I know you tried to make me a mark too. So we're even, Detective."

"Two marks in Cheshire Square, huh?" Eli returned. "Kind of makes us both squares, right?"

"You're the square, I'm the Cheshire." Jade joked. "Don't forget that, Square."

Eli chuckled. "Whatever… Cheshire."

Needless to say, Eli finally found a nickname that suited the ninja girl in green. From now on, they would be the Yellow Jacket and the Cheshire Cat. Nah, too many words. Just Hornet and Cheshire.

Yeah. Hornet and Cheshire.

* * *

Maurice "Mo" Anderson was a young man who attended Ouachita Baptist University before dropping out and moving to Gotham City where he entered the police academy. The man of twenty five was a father of three with girlfriend Adrianna Bennett (born Audrey Wen) and apparently an outstanding human being. He did the Big Brother Program in Gotham City as well as many charities that the GCPD did for good publicity.

And yet, despite all the man's charitable qualities, Eli was willing to bet that Mo Anderson was still working with the Ghost Dragons. This is why he was currently standing out in the rain tracking said man's every move.

"His partner is beginning to be become an unnecessary accessory." Jade commented quietly. She was currently standing with her mask beneath her chin, her face fully revealed instead of halfway when it was on correctly.

Eli agreed. They were watching the two cops stop at a food truck to get something to eat. The problem was that the partner of Officer Anderson was unsure of what to get and keeping the pair within the crowded line at the truck. They needed the two men to get away for Jade and Eli to swoop down and do what they had to do.

"Any ideas?" Eli asked.

Jade pulled her mask over the lower half of her face. "I have a few. Get ready to follow me."

The Yellow Jacket just pulled his hood over his mask as his partner ran off and apparently leapt off of the side of the building they were occupying. Eli turned his focus back to the cops at the food truck and anticipated everything. Jade was highly unpredictable and could reveal a bomb or something to get the cops attention.

"Help!" A woman screamed out.

Eli's eyes zoomed towards the situation and found a man lying on the ground holding his side. Next to him was a screaming kneeling woman and behind them stood Jade with her sword in hand.

"Police! Stop!" Of course, the first thing Jade did was stay still long enough for the officers a few yards away to arrest her.

Eli groaned and followed from the rooftops. He was no comfortable leaping from building to building in the rain, even if Nick had assured him that the boots he was wearing were made top-notch military grade boots. Eli simply just did not trust his equipment to the point that leaping several of floors above nothing but unforgiving concrete was okay. It would _never_ be okay.

Even if his dad did it for a time…

The teen stumbled a bit, his heart racing as he caught himself and looked over at the sidewalk. He could see the officers but not Jade. Taking in a deep breath, he steady himself and continued his chase while questioning just how good of an escape artist Jade was.

Seriously, she was one of the few people that could actually avoid his eyes in a crowd. Going to the school that he did, Eli was used to finding his way or finding people in a crowded hallway. But Jade had this ability to simply vanish and reappear at will.

Maybe she was a meta?

Eli soon figured out Jade's destination due to the pathway that the two policemen were taking. He carefully made another leap over a small alley and then stopped. He turned around and looked back at the alley as the two cops closed in on Jade.

"We have the suspect," Mo spoke into the police radio before pocketing it. "Alright, drop the sword and come in quietly. We don't want any trouble."

The two approaching men in uniform were not aware of the costumed vigilante landing behind them. They were too focused on the possible threat in front of them to see the dart-throwing teen known as the Yellow Jacket take aim at them both. And by the time they were aware of the darts impaled into their necks, it was far too late.

"Officer… Down…" Mo tried to warn before dropping into an unconscious state.

Jade walked to the two cops lying face down on the wet concrete and turned Officer Mo onto his stomach. With precision, she stabbed her sword forward towards his chest, an act that caused Hornet to flinch.

"Body cam," she answered. "Now, let's get started."

Years of playing basketball for his school and recreational center, Eli was no stranger to teamwork. He had played on the same side of the ball with guys he hated and guys he was friends with. He also knew when team chemistry was either at its highest or lowest.

The simple fact that he and Jade moved without a single word showed great chemistry. They were able to zip-tie the other officer up and hand-cuffed Officer Anderson with nothing but a look from one another. They pulled Mo further down the alleyway and away from the view of the street before Eli used one of his remaining smelling-salt to wake Mo Anderson up.

"Huh…? What happened?" Mo asked before looking in front of him at the two masked teens. "H-Hornet?!"

Jade crossed her arms. "I'm standing right here as well." Mo's blue eyes fell onto the girl in the green kimono. "The name is Cheshire," she held her sword out to him. "Now say my name."

"Ch-Cheshire!" he stammered.

"We know you're in contact with the Ghost Dragons," Hornet said. "We only need information about one thing."

"Carolyn Wu-San." Cheshire finished. "Where is she?"

"I don't… I don't know." Mo answered. "Please don't tell Commissioner Gordon that I speak to those guys! I don't have a choice!"

"Your girlfriend, we get it." Cheshire said. Eli fought himself not to ask her _how_ she knew that Adrianna was connected to the group but he was sure to ask her later.

Mo shook his head. "Look, I know you're going to beat the hell out of me for even turning a blind eye on them-"

"That depends on the information given." interrupted Hornet.

"I don't know much. The Dragons wanted her sister for something about a few canisters. My girlfriend doesn't tell me much about the organization and I don't ask. I feel bad enough as it is." the man said as he shifted on his butt, his hands handcuffed in his lap.

"I'm going to need a little bit more information." Jade said with the tip of her blade pressing into his vest.

"Canisters with some drug! I don't know!" he protested. "Then some agents came looking for her and that was it!"

Eli digested the information. From Mo's account, there was a chance that G.O.O.D had come for Carolyn and has either found her or was still looking for her. There was also a chance that the Dragons still have her in secrecy. For now, Eli could not tell which one was more believable but he did know one thing was for sure.

Mo Anderson was a patsy to the organization, a stooge on the force that passed along information and took blame for small mishaps. He was, in Eli's eyes, the George of the Ghost Dragons.

"Give us some information on this drug," Hornet soon spoke. "And then you're free to go."

Cheshire gave her teammate a glance out of the corner of her eyes. He either had a plan or figured something out.

"I don't know what the drug was or what it was used for. I just know that Carolyn's sister and some other guy- damn what was his name? Ricky? Rich? Ric-"

"Richard Dragon," Now it was Hornet who gave Jade a curious stare from behind his goggles. "His name is Richard Dragon."

"Yeah! They went and blew up the factory of it and I was told to arrest her." Officer Mo said. "Then she was released and then the agents came in."

"Hmm," Cheshire hummed as she removed her sword. "Normally this is the part you tell us that they have something on you and you can't say more for your kids' lives. Of course, Hornet and I will decide if stabbing you will do the trick or shooting you but-"

Officer Mo sat up straight. "No wait! There's one little thing!" The man leaned towards them and whispered, "My original partner was being stalked by birds. He said that they knew everything about the case and that it was important to let her go."

"What kind of birds?" Hornet asked.

"He said owls. Every night there would be a group of owls that would- ugh!"

Eli's eyes widened when Jade quickly slit the man's throat. The man collapsed as the blood free-flowed from the gash in his neck from the merciless slash. The girl in green didn't even speak as she made a break for the fire escape, scaling it up to the rooftops. Hornet raised his right hand and fired the grappling hook in the gauntlet, following her as quickly as possible.

"What the fuck was that?!" Eli growled.

"Shut the hell up!" Cheshire snapped before sighing. "We'll talk about this back at your apartment. Change, hand me your suit, and keep your head low, got it?" Eli nodded. "Good. And if you can, stay near your girlfriend. I'll explain this shit later."

Eli grunted. "You'd better Jade. I don't make it a habit killing innocent people like that."

"Trust me," Cheshire spoke as she turned around. "If they are after him, he's anything but innocent." Cheshire took a few steps before stopping. "I hit a Mozgov cache last night. I'll drop what I have off at your place."

She didn't wait for Eli to answer as she took off, leaving him standing in the rain. Eli raised a hand to his right ear and pressed the button to the communicator.

"Hickman, I need a favor." Eli said quietly.

 _"Damn it kid, the semis are on!"_ Nick fussed.

"Owls, Hickman. I want to know who they are and why they would scare the hell out of Jade." said Hornet as he began to head in the direction of Jade's hotel to drop his suit off.

 _"Owls…? As in the birds, mate?"_ Eli responded with a quiet "Yeah" which got a hum from Nick. _"I'll see what I can pull up. Anything else?"_

"Yeah. See if our friend Stephen Kelley popped up." growled Hornet. "I'm not finished with him yet."

* * *

Barbara had not forgotten Richard's words earlier today. Richard had a strong point that it was a little odd that Eli and Hornet shared similar background stories and that they showed up in Gotham City at the same time. However, Barbara held on to the belief that Eli's abhorrence of vigilantes stopped him from being a vigilante.

Of course, Barbara realized that she could just _call_ Eli and ask him up front if he was or was not the Hornet. But this did not seem like an over-the-phone conversation. Plus, she was still at work and was forbidden from using her cell phone.

Just ten more minutes…

Richard had left more than half an hour ago to check something out. She was sure that it was possibly another lead on Bookworm and Ratcatcher. The boy was still hell-bent on returning all of the escapees back to Blackgate.

"Excuse me," A familiar voice caused Barbara to look up at the smiling face. "Can you recommend a book that actually won't put me to sleep?"

Barbara made a thinking face. "Hmm… Have you any _Harry Potter_ books?"

Eli chuckled. "Given the kids that I work with, I'm a little tired of him." The teen leaned his slightly wet arms on the front desk, his gray shirt darken around his shoulders due to the rain he had just escaped from. "I figured since I'm leaving tomorrow that I'd pop in. Hope that's cool with you."

"It's fine. In fact I…" Barbara paused. Was she really going to do this? Here? "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Okay," Eli said quietly. "Shoot."

"Are you the Hornet?"

He hated her. She knew it from the disrespected glare that he shot her afterwards. It was like taking Superman's laser vision straight to the heart and out through her back. And when his fists balled up to the point that they were actually shaking, she knew that she had crossed that line.

And then he calmed down with a heavy sigh.

"Why in the hell would you ask that? You know I hate vigilantes." Eli hissed in a low tone.

"I know! I'm sorry it's just… My dad was doing some investigation into Hornet and you appearing when he appeared it's just a little weird." responded the redhead. "I didn't want to ask you but I just had to know."

"He…!" Eli began angrily before seemingly calming down again. "Hornet was the one who told me about my dad's death before the cops came to tell me. These so-called _heroes_ couldn't save one man from some mob or whatever. So the Yellow Jacket can go to hell in my honest opinion."

Barbara swallowed. "I understand. I'm sorry."

She hadn't meant to trigger angry memories. She wanted to ask a simple question, get a simple answer, and then bury the subject once and for all.

"I'm sorry," Eli said quietly, his eyes on the floor. "It's just that… My dad was a vigilante. A gambling idiot who became a vigilante named the Army Ant or something like that." Barbara's eyes widened, Eli meeting her shocked gaze with a confused one. "Have you heard about him?"

"N-No! I just didn't think that you were the son of a hero!" she quickly covered her shock. Was Richard right? Was the Hornet the son of Army Ant? Was Eli and Hornet one in the same?

"I didn't find out until the night of his death, after he had actually died." Eli continued. "They said that there were three of these bug guys. The Army Ant, the Yellow Jacket, and another one. Two of them are now dead and I guess the third one is out there failing to do anything about it."

Barbara frowned. "You won't help him get justice for your dad?"

"Don't take this the wrong way Barbara, but what can some crazy fool with guns do for me? Bring my dad back? Tell me all the stupid secrets that my mom and I had to hear from a masked stranger wanted for murder? There is no justice. Just vengeance I care nothing about." Eli concluded. "So I hate vigilantes because they do nothing but keep secrets from people that are supposed to be in their lives. And it's really not fair that they can get away with all this shit and just throw it on us."

"Eli I…" Barbara took in a breath. His words reflected the worst fears that she figured all heroes encountered. The moment your loved ones find out you were a hero at your funeral. It wasn't fair to her aunt and uncle who brought her in, her cousin who looked up to her as a sister, or her uncle's new wife to keep this from them and risk taking the secret to her literal grave. Making them worry during nights of complete anarchy as she willingly put herself into danger to save tens, hundreds, or maybe thousands of people.

Eli relaxed his fingers on the desk. "I'm sorry Barbara. Just thinking about my dad keeping that shit from me and then having some random nigga in a fucking mask tell me how great my dad was and how he'd make it right, like what is this shit? How can someone 'fix' this?"

"I think he's just trying to help. Maybe he feels attached to your dad and responsible for his death?" Barbara offered.

"He should." Eli spoke coldly before straightened up, now standing at his full height in front of Barbara's desk. "I'm going to go cool off."

"Eli, wait," Barbara said rising from her seat. "I'm sorry for asking. I just had to ask for my dad's sake." She gave him a smile. "Please… Stay."

Eli shook his head. "I don't want to say something else and the kids hear is or your boss does."

"It's fine. Just… Don't leave."

Eli was really trying to leave due to the unplanned testimony that was factually reminiscent to the night of Malcolm's murder. Of course, Hornet did not show up- he had yet to be created at this point. But there was an officer who did the job.

Eli remembered being led out of the apartment by the bald-headed dark African-American man. Leila had met them outside in the parking lot. The woman did not cry. The woman did not shout. She simply gave Eli a, "Come on Elias," and they went to identify the body.

"Fine Barbara. I'll stay." Eli answered quietly.

He continued to think about the past. When they were identifying Malcolm's corpse, alawyer present, apparently an old friend of Leila's, assured them that Malcolm's time as a vigilante would be concealed and that the he and his alter ego would never be mentioned in the same article, essay, news reports, and etcetera. It was all due to some Darby Law that Eli ignored then, and ignored now. Leila had kept composure during the entire time while Eli had nearly lost his mind staring at his deceased father.

His dad had died? His dad was a _hero_? His dad was _gambling_ again? All these questions flooded his mind at the time. And then his mother said one thing that haunted him till this day.

With her eyes solely on the lead detective on the case, Leila had gone up to the man that clearly outsized her in every physical form possible and said, "I want him on his knees or else."

It had been the only time that Eli had heard his mother deliver such a threat and it was said in such a tone that even Eli felt bad for the guy that had just killed his dad. Leila had led Eli back to the apartment that night and sat in the living room, crying, while Eli locked himself inside of his room. They wouldn't speak until the next morning and even that was only when necessary.

A mother and son forced to talk to one another. Who'd thought that that's what they would become? But that night made it painfully clear that the once mama's boy Elias Jackson and his once beloved mother Leila Nolan was now just that; forced to talk to each other.

"Eli," Barbara said quietly. "Are you alright?"

Eli shook his head. "No… You're the first person who I've told that to."

"Your secret is safe with me." Barbara assured, her hand squeezing his affectionately.

"…" Eli just stared at her. The secret, the _real_ secret, was that he was Hornet and that he blamed everyone, himself included, for his father's death. His secret was that he hated all vigilantes which, again, included himself.

The secret was that he despised all thoughts and talks about how great his parents were when they had each abandoned him either for a better life in some office or to run around in a Halloween costume.

Barbara, sensing his discomfort, spoke gently. "I'm really sorry for bringing it up but I don't want you to leave angry. Well, not angry at me."

She meant no harm, Eli figured. Then again, those detectives, those lawyers, his stepfather, his half-brother, his stepfather's parents, his aunt and cousin, all of them meant no intentional harm either and have yet managed to do just that; harm him. Maybe, he figured, Leila was right and that he was too emotionally unstable to deal with the small and meaningless ribs and jabs that were thrown his way. Or maybe there was a deeper, darker, reason to his recent bursts of anger? One that his father may or may not have dealt with…

"It's fine Barbara," Eli partially lied. "I just have a hard time dealing with it. Harder than most people know."

Barbara smiled. "Well, I do know a little place that makes the best milkshakes that makes all of my problems go away for a moment. Think it might help you as well?"

"At this point," Eli responded with a small smile of his own. "I'm willing to try anything to make this go away."

"I know that you probably don't want to hear this," Barbara said, her blue eyes embracing his brown ones. "But if you want or need it, I'll be that hero for you."

Eli's chest inflated with an explosive response clearly on the tip of his tongue. And then he calmed and a smile graced his face.

"Thanks Barbara."

Barbara returned the smile while completely on a new subject. Hornet either knew how or why Eli's dad was murdered. It may be time for him to have a one-on-one chat with Batgirl.

* * *

It was not odd to see Richard walking with his face shoved between the pages of a book, just a sight Alfred had not seen in months now. But the black-haired teenager was not reading a book. He was reading the newspaper. Despite his maturity, Richard, like most kids his age, hardly picked up the newspaper unless a school project had to be done or a fly had to be swatted.

Bemused, Alfred greeted the boy. "Opting to read the paper this evening, Master Dick?"

"There's a girl in D.C who saved a bus full of kids," Richard replied. "I'm sure Bruce knows about this?"

"He left to talk to the girl's mother as we speak." Richard sat the paper down and looked at Alfred, egging the butler to go further into detail. "The blonde is the daughter of Wonder Woman. Lyta, I think her name is."

Richard sat the paper down. "And why is Bruce going to talk to her or Wonder Woman?"

"Master Dick," Alfred began in his lecturing tone. "While I am no stranger to teenagers believing that they can do everything on their own, might I insist that you allow Master Bruce to help you just a little bit? He cares a lot about you whether he shows it all the time or not."

"What does that have to do with his meeting?" Richard pressed on.

"He heard about your initiation to form a group of young heroes like yourself. He was impressed and sought to aid you." explained the aged butler. "I know that Master Bruce's _relationship_ with Miss Kyle can be trying at times but he would never put her life above yours. I think you should know that."

Richard sat at the small round glass table in the large kitchen with a sigh. For starters, he had been so caught up in the feats of this "Lyta" that he had wandered into the kitchen. It was possibly due to the fact that it was normal for him to magically follow his nose to Alfred's cooking. Heck, that ability is what kept the younger wandering Boy Wonder from getting lost in the manor; because he could always find the kitchen.

Now it was slightly perplexing as to why he did so _before_ Alfred started cooking at all.

"I've already contacted some people. I'll start my initiative after I've talked to some more people." responded Richard.

"Have you asked Miss Gordon? I'm sure she would more than glad to help." Richard sighed quietly.

"No. She needs to stay here. Batman will always need a Robin or a Batgirl to keep him from going too far." The young teenager said. "I've been thinking about asking someone else first."

Alfred raised a brow. "I assume you're speaking about a certain Yellow Jacket?"

"The Hound was released and Firefly is dead," Richard said. "Something tells me that Whale is behind it which means that he and I have a lot of work to accomplish together."

"One could say that you two make the Birds and the Bees, right?"

Richard smiled. "Yeah. Time to teach these guys a vital lesson."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** So here is the latest chapter. There isn't much here except for a lot of foreshadowing. See how many little Easter Eggs you can find here. Onto Eli's character, his dislike (okay, it's a hatred) for vigilantism goes far deeper than he lets on, even to the point that he hates himself for it. There will be a small time skip from this chapter and the next revealing Eli's newest mentor(s) as well as some hints on who Nightwing will ask to join him for his team as well as a moment between Eli and his brother. Of course, before that, if you have any thoughts, ideas, or just comments that you'd like to share, drop a review or PM to let me know. Ciao for now.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Notes:** Where has the time gone? Seriously! Anyway, here's the next chapter of MoaH. Originally I was going to put the entirety of the chapter up but figured it would be better to be two separate parts as it covers four different days. This part will mainly focus on Eli/Hornet while the second half will be split between him and Richard/Nightwing in Bludhaven and D.C. Remember to also send love to the men and women serving in all (not just American) military. Peace!

 **Chapter Warnings:** The rated T for Teen for swearing.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Fifteen: When Pressure Builds Pt. I

Why couldn't he just get what he wanted?

The selfish thought from the Yellow Jacket came seconds after his gloved fist connected with the bleeding face of a would-be threat lying on the concrete sidewalk of Cheshire Square. There were two other beaten teenagers behind Hornet, each groaning in pain and agony.

It had been a rather quiet night with nothing really which gave Eli the time to find more of Killer Moth's weapon caches and take what he wanted back to Jade's apartment. The small petty crimes that Eli had come across were things that the local police or other vigilantes could handle if they caught the crime in act. As for Eli, he sincerely wanted to find the caches so that he could move on to the Hound, then Bookworm, and finally Whale.

Of course, the punks known as the Saints Row Children did not care about Eli's wants or wishes.

Hornet stood up and eyed the three individual victims of his frustrations. Maybe there was a monster deep inside of him- one larger than the demon his father held? It would answer why these three guys took such a beaten and he had yet to even make some form of arrest.

The Yellow Jacket shook his head, "Who the fuck cares?"

Hornet began walking away, making sure to scan the area for any would-be assistance to the group he had just disposed of. The SRC was known for a lot of petty crimes, many of them Eli had heard about from George or Eric. He knew that when one or two guys were destroying property like the three he had seen earlier, there was usually one or two watching the area for cops or their true target.

Eli paused as he stepped next to a car parked alongside the sidewalk. Maybe it was his training from Ben kicking in or maybe his adrenaline increased his sense of sound, but the teen vigilante could hear the labored panting of someone either tired or afraid; maybe both?

Hornet crept around the car where saw the kid seated next to the front wheel on the driver's side. The kid looked to be around thirteen, possibly younger, but obviously was no threat to Hornet or anyone around.

"It's y-y-you!" he stammered.

Eli stared at the kid. He knew who he was, one of the few kids that would watch the older guys play basketball on the weekends. Eli would have guessed that the cowering kid had gotten involved with the SRC, but knew first hand just how things were. Being dragged into a gang was not always a choice.

"Go home." Eli told the younger boy.

"B-b-but, I have t-t-to-"

Hornet raised his hand, stopping the boy from saying anything else. "I'll deal with them. Just go home. Or else."

The young boy's eyes go over to a corner. "He's over there…"

Hornet looked over to the corner of the street, seeing a stop sign and nothing else. He doubted that the kid on the ground in front of him had reasons to lie but was still did not trust anyone involved with the SRC- forced or not. However, he could not just ignore the possibility of someone recording this or risk back-up coming.

"Go." Hornet demanded again before walking to where the boy had pointed out.

He hadn't shot anyone since returning to New Camford, something Nick had made noticed of earlier tonight. In fact, the last time Eli has even used his guns during his first night in Gotham City. Eli was in no rush to end that streak but would if he must.

Walking around the corner, Hornet switched visions of his goggles, zooming in and out why looking around. It was hard to tell who was standing in their apartment and who was peeping out of their window but Eli kept using his goggles for on-field training.

He soon spotted a heat signature in a nearby parked car and returned his vision to normal. The vigilante slowly approached the car with his hands going behind him to grab his treasured weapons.

The driver rolled the window down and to Eli's surprise, it had been Mike- the same kid that had Sam by the collar weeks ago. The light-skinned African-American eyed Hornet while smoking a marijuana cigarette. The boy in the car put his arm out of the car as Hornet approached, a sneer on his face.

"The fuck do you want?"

That did not necessarily make Hornet happy. The hero swatted the boy with one of this treasured pistols before reaching into the car and opening the door. Hornet yanked the guy out of the vehicle into the street.

"The fuck man!"

"Tell your boss to stay out of my neighborhood or else." Hornet threatened.

Josh spat a wad of blood at the Yellow Jacket. "You think you run shit 'cause you got some bitch niggas shook? Bruh I will bury you! You hear…"

Josh's words turned into a gulp as Hornet stood above his prone body with his signature guns in his face. The teen of eighteen was in rush to die, regardless of the oath he took with the SRC. Dying by the hands of Hornet would give him street credentials that he would never be able to take advantage of.

"You're living tonight because I need you to send a message. Understood?" Josh nodded his head. "I'm shutting down the SRC. I will take down you. I will take down Eric. And I will take down Tobias Whale. Do you think you can deliver that message to your boss?" Again, Josh nodded. "Good. Now rest."

"Wait, wha-"

Eli was not the most accurate striker- Jade far more the technical striker than he was. However, Eli has learned that where technique failed, pure speed and strength stepped in. The kick he gave Josh was not the most beautiful technical kick like Ben and Jade used to knock out their opponent, but it sure as hell did the trick.

Hornet did not stay there longer and continued his journey home for the third time tonight. He had found two of Moth's caches, having to carry what he wanted back by himself without the assist from Jade. From a tactical standpoint the weapons could come in handy later on which is why he took what he wanted before getting a nearby citizens to call it in to the police.

It was quite surprising, actually. Many people were actually pleased to help Hornet by calling in the authorities for him. Well, they were either pleased to help out or too frightened to refuse. It had led to a lot of the news since his return from Gotham City over a week ago.

Hornet quietly sneaked up to an apartment complex and pointed his right gauntlet upwards. Firing a line, he reeled himself up without being spotted and climbed onto the roof.

Since coming back to New Camford, Eli has felt some weight off of him- physically, that is. He actually felt lighter and faster. Nick theorized that this came from him having done significant damage to the Mozgov and Sullivan crime families. Eli was unsure if the release of some of his mental anguish was directly related to his physical capabilities but he was glad that most of the Mozgov family stationed in Gotham City either had a bullet through their heads or facing many years behind bars.

Landing onto the rooftop of his apartment complex, Eli took in a deep breath. He had not spoken to Mallory since leaving Gotham City, a consequence from his actions towards her boyfriend. His aunt and mother had talked and had come to the conclusion that Malcolm's death was heavier on Eli than the boy let on. Leila had opted to supervise Eli's actions but work got in the way and the teen w as able to sneak out to Nick's quite easily.

Scaling down the fire escape quietly, Eli opened a window that led into Jade's and Ben's apartment.

Inside of Jade's former room was nothing but a bed, Eli's bag to change, and a few bags of money and weapons that Jade had acquired from Gotham. The money was more than Eli wanted to leave in his apartment (and definitely more than he wanted to carry around) and the weapons were there as a "just in-case" situation.

Sighing, Eli closed and locked the window before replacing the blinds to cover his next actions. Afterwards he was able to strip out of costume and put on his jean shorts and Patriots jersey that he had worn earlier. His body was bruised from the days and nights of fighting random acts of crime- mostly against the SRC- but the pain had only reminded him that he was still alive. Training, dealing with his father's death, and trying to juggle his life was becoming numbing at points, almost as if nothing or no one but himself mattered. He couldn't feel attachments all the time anymore except when talking to Barbara or searching for Tobias Whale.

He could feel some sort of emotion (positive) with Barbara and then an overwhelming amount of hatred for a man he has yet to even meet in Tobias Whale.

Eli carefully stored his costume in its carrier bag, making sure to unload his guns before putting them away lest someone tried to use them against him. The boy took his bag, took some cash stolen from the Mozgovs, and headed out of the room. Once he entered the nearly bare living room, he grabbed Jade's spare key (which she left for him) off of the small sofa and headed for the door.

When Jade and Ben left, they made sure that Eli agreed to certain things. The first and most important was that he would not dig into the "shadowy" business that they had learned in Gotham City. Eli was supposed to stay out of sight if he heard anything remotely like a court of owls following him.

The second thing, Eli remembers as he exited their apartment, was that Eli was to continue with Ben's training even without Ben there. This was pretty much punishment for Hornet and Cheshire's involvement of… Well, Eli had no idea just who or what Jade was so worried about, but their findings did not necessarily sit well with Ben and this was Ben's response to it. Again, Eli had not looked up any information and Nick had come to a dead-end as well.

Walking down the steps to the floor where his apartment resides, Eli chose to turn his thoughts on Barbara Gordon. After their talk in the library, the pair had somehow continued right where they left off during their date. They talked, they flirted, and they kissed. The only problem Eli had with Barbara was the voice in the back of his head reminding him of the line drawn between them.

No, it wasn't the obvious she was white and he was black. The line that he was focused on was that she was the daughter of a police commissioner and he was the son of a deceased vigilante. There was a difference from not knowing a case and not knowing what your parent was or did. There was a difference between being a librarian who wrote great reviews about Batman and being a vigilante wanted for murder. Barbara was good, too good for him. And Eli… He was Bialya in a nutshell.

Eli put his key in the lock and twisted. Hearing the bolt release a click as it unlocked, he unlocked the door to his apartment and twisted the knob. Pushing the door opened, he paused when heard a sigh.

Someone was here.

"You're late." A strong feminine voice commented.

Shit, Eli thought. Well, he was stuck with two choices. He could flee while carrying his suit and pray that he was not confronted by anyone until he found sanctuary or he could see just who the hell had sneaked into his apartment and apparently waited for him.

The teen opened the door all the way and stepped inside. There on the couch was a very attractive blonde. Her light blue eyes seemed to have a magnetic attraction to Eli's position and somehow holding his attention from the cleavage being revealed by her black top or her fishnet covered legs.

"Are you going to say something or just stare at me all night?" The woman said, with a brow arching for emphasis.

"Who are you?" Eli asked as he closed the door slowly and quietly, his teenage eyes now taking in the full beauty of the woman as she stood up.

"Ben told you that you were going to have a new teacher, didn't he?" Eli nodded. "Then come on. We're leaving."

"I need to check in with my mom." Eli winced after the words left his mouth. He was sure that the woman could not believe that the gun-slinging bad-ass his alter ego had become still had to check in with his parent/step-parent from time to time.

The woman simply walked to the door. "Call her when we get to the gym." She paused and looked at Eli once they were side-by-side. "You have ridden on a motorcycle before?" Eli slowly shook his head for no. "Oh this is just great. Come on. And bring your gear… Unless you need to ask your mom about that too."

Eli growled. "I don't."

"Then let's go. Now."

Eli followed the blonde woman with his inner anger suppressing the obvious lust that he should have over her. Thankfully, training with Ben taught Eli to not act on this rising animosity towards the bossy blonde. He could easily recognize that she was far above his training and would dismantle him if she wanted to.

"I saw you earlier today," The woman voiced as they descended the stairs. "Ben was right. You are smart."

"Not smart enough to figure out your name without you telling me." muttered the teen as the shorter woman led him to the front door of the apartment building.

"I'll tell you my name when we get to the gym," The pair walked out of the building and towards, what Eli assumed was, a Harley-Davidson. "Until then, Eli, strap your bag up tight and don't drop it. I'm not turning around and we both don't need another you-know."

Eli's lips thinned as he scanned the bike. "No helmets?"

"None," the blonde quipped as she straddled the bike and started it up. "Hop on. We have a ride ahead of us."

He had jumped off of roofs and stared down fire-flinging maniacs. He had stood up for himself to the GCPD commissioner on two separate occasions; once as a law-breaking Hornet and the other as the rule-breaking boyfriend Eli. And yet somehow getting on the back of a motorcycle with a stranger to go off to some unknown location was possibly the craziest thing he has done in his life.

Eli sighed and got on the bike. After rethinking that thought, this may be the safest way to die after all.

"Hold on."

To think those could be the last words that he ever heard in his life. Hold on.

* * *

Ivy Town was not as bustling as its slightly bigger, younger brother New Camford though larger than their quiet lesser talked about older sibling, Calvin City. It was a quieter town and housed one of the top schools in the country; the University of Connecticut in Ivy Town. Yet, despite its quiet nature and ability to stay relatively unseen by the nation's trouble-seeking eyes, Ivy Town was an important industrial city to the New England states. While the number of in-city factories has not risen in the past thirty years, it was still home to corporations and inventors that strived to bring the world into a new age of ideas and inventions.

Traffic was not as congested as New Camford's tourist-infested highways which eased Eli's racing heart just a bit. While the blonde was clearly used to riding between different sized vehicles moving at alternating rates, he was not. It did not help that his arms were around and attractive woman who he still had yet to learn her name.

It had been a forty minute drive and Eli was sure that multiple driving violations had occurred during the ride. They were currently in a small part of the town, closer to the Calvin City lines than the New Camford. The area looked to be ghosted save for a few ranch-style homes and small private-owned diners and shops.

The woman pulled into the empty parking lot of a rundown gym, going to the back of the building which was completely hidden from the street. She parked the bike and put the kickstand down before looking back at Eli.

"You can let go now." Eli took his hands off of her waist and got off of the motorcycle. "Come on Eli. We have a lot to do in the next two hours."

Eli watched as she dismounted the motorcycle, keys in hand, and approached the back door to the building. He followed without a sound, shifting the strap of his bag on his right shoulder. He entered what he assumed was some sort of fighting gym- most likely boxing- and looked around.

"I'm Dinah," the woman said as she clicked a switch, turning something on other than the lights. "Come down here, we'll talk more."

Eli mapped the area out before he moved. It was possibly more spacious inside than out and the squared ring in the center looked to lack any dust to show its age or abandonment. There was a weight bench off to the left of the ring and an elliptical present as well. Two punching bags, a wrestling mat, and a speed ball were present as well.

There were large floor-to-ceiling windows in the front next to the door. To Eli's left was a flight of steel stairs that led downwards (where Dinah had walked off to) and to his right was a room which he assumed was an office of some sort.

The final thing Eli noticed was that the place seemed well air-conditioned. Someone, most likely this Dinah lady, most likely used this place earlier to make it cooler than the outside New England heat. He could not hear any A/C but knew that there was something cooling the gym.

Eli did not spend more time memorizing the sights and colors and instead descended the steps and found what was beneath the gym to be more spacious and amazing than what was above it.

"This is a base in Ivy Town. Use it when I'm here and let me know if you're using it when I'm not. Understood?"

Eli hardly heard Dinah as he looked around. This base put Nick's to shame. It had the computer. It had the desk. It had the various workout areas and stations. But there was an indoor shooting range. There were doors that led to closets or halls that Eli could not see through the closed entries. There was a lounge where Dinah was sipping coffee at that included oven, coffee maker, refrigerator, and microwave.

"Showers are down there," Dinah said pointing to one of the three closed doors. "You don't need to know what's behind the other two doors."

"Where," Eli said as he stepped off of the stairs. He slowly made his way to a leather sofa next to the bar where Dinah was leaning against. "Where are we?"

"This is where I'll be training you. Learn the bus and subway times to get here on time." Dinah answered. "Sit. I want to talk."

Eli frowned. "Talk? You brought me all the way out here to talk?"

"Would you have liked it if your friends were to knock on your door and see us talking about your adventures as Hornet?" The rhetorical question had Eli sitting down obediently on the couch. "Ben and I aren't the best of friends. In fact, I wouldn't call us friends at all- just former partners on a case we were both on. I wasn't his first choice either."

"Who was?" Eli asked.

"A woman who I respect but don't necessarily like. Of course, she was busy searching for her sister," Dinah continued. "So when Ben called in and asked for this favor, I was obviously intrigued. Ben doesn't call anyone for help unless he truly needs it."

Eli leaned back. "He was teaching me Dragon Style Kung Fu. I thought he knew enough to do it." Dinah crossed her arms, her mug safe in her right hand. "Unless… He asked you to teach me something other than fighting."

"On the west coast, I'm known as the Black Canary." Eli's eyes widened slightly. He had actually heard of her. "So you know who I am, huh? Well, then, I guess introductions are almost over. There are only two things you need to know about me now. One, my boyfriend will be here tomorrow to 'check in' on us. He's in the doghouse and thought helping me watch after some teenager with an attitude would help his case. The second thing you need to know is that my mom was a vigilante like your dad… Sort of."

"Oh…" Eli understood right then and there. Ben, and Nick for that matter, had spoken to Eli about his anger preventing him from advancing in certain things. Ben would call the end of a sparring session whenever he saw it and Nick would withhold information if he thought that Eli could not handle it.

Obviously, Dinah was either an expert on the matter or someone with enough experience to help. "You don't seem so surprised."

"I'm not." Eli simply voiced. "Ben said that I was too angry. You have that anger too, right?"

"More or less," replied Dinah. "I'm also surprised that you're okay with me knowing who you are. Most guys would be finding ways to keep me from telling the world."

Eli shrugged his shoulder. "You told me your identity as well. Are you going to find ways to keep quiet?"

Dinah sipped her caffeinated drink. "No. Then again, I know everything I need to know about you. Where you live. Where you work. I even know you're dating Barbara Gordon, which is, believe me, _very_ interesting."

Eli sat still and tried to figure out if the woman was being serious or not. If Dinah was serious as she saw his relationship with Barbara amusing, then it would most likely be due to Barbara's father's (uncle really) job and his nighttime extracurricular activities. And if she was just being a facetious bitch, then so be it.

Placing the cup on the black counter top behind her, Dinah left the kitchenette and walked to the couch. She sat down with a quiet breath and eyed Eli directly.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat this: I think you're reckless and this is just me doing a favor for someone I respect." Black Canary stated. "That being said, I saw what you did earlier. You could've killed that kid- all of them really. But you didn't. That's not the Hornet I expected to meet."

Eli scoffed defiantly. "I don't just go in and kill random people for no fucking reason. I find people who break the law and if they shoot and me, I shoot back. I can't help it that I have better aim."

"I'm not critiquing you so calm down. _Now_." Eli grunted once more but remained quiet. She was too close for him to react now if indeed she was as fast as Ben. "What I'm saying is that I came here with the thoughts of some shit-for-brains teenager with guns. Instead, I saw… Well to be honest, I saw me."

"Uh-huh…" was the skeptical reply from the teenager.

"Which is why Ben asked me to stop you from ultimately doing something stupid. Things that I did." Dinah said. "So the deal with you and me is this: Transparency. If you're mad, say you're mad. If you're thinking about some girl, say it. Don't have me guessing and don't let it show up on the field. Got it?"

Eli sat with a look of skepticism on his face. There was always a catch with his so-called mentors that seemed bigger than what they said. Nick allowed Eli to keep Malcolm's laptop in exchange that Eli would be a hero before the end of the summer. The ulterior motive was that Eli could be the hero Nick could physically not be due to his amputated leg. Ben had given Eli training to test Eli's resolve. Once more, the hidden agenda was that Ben wanted Eli to one day find out who Jade's father was and stop her from killing her dead-beat dad.

With that in mind, what was Dinah's hidden motive? Did she want him to become some hero with redeemable qualities? Did she want to use him for some private mission that would most likely get him killed? Hell, he'd even throw in the possibility that she was sleeping with Malcolm and just looking out for the late man's son.

Who knows nowadays?

"Fine," Eli said.

"Good. Now, get ready."

Frowning, Eli stood up. "Get ready for what?"

The woman's left brow rose and she popped each individual knuckle. "For training, of course." Eli watched a positively evil smirk crawl onto her face. "I'm new at this 'mentor' thing. So tap out if I get too rough, okay?"

"…" Eli just stared. Nick had been tough. Ben had been absolutely hell. And truthfully he'd rather not think about what he and Jade went through. Now he was staring down a woman who was probably worse than all of them.

Oh well. Scars added character, didn't they?

* * *

They didn't. Scars did not add character. They were a reminder of the pain that one received when battling a blonde who had knowledge of moves Eli only saw in Jet Li or Jason Statham movies. He even compared her to a freaking _Mortal Kombat_ character with how easily she seemed to change stances and reveal new maneuvers. At one point he waited for the "Finish Him" voice to appear only to hear her say two words that haunted him for the rest of the night, "Try again."

Eli groaned as he trudged out of his bedroom. The "light" feeling he had instantly died when his head hit his pillow a few hours ago and only worsened after the shower. True to his thoughts, Dinah's training was tougher than Nick's and she critiqued him harder than Ben.

And then he witnessed her using her Canary Cry on a dummy and…

Eli shuddered. He would actually shoot the next poor bastard in the ears and heart to spare them the agony of having to endure such an attack. It was bad enough that the life-like doll she used exploded as she retold the story of her first kill, some guy named Aquarius who was responsible for the deaths of her parents. She caused his head to explode and showed Eli, with the dummy, just how that looked from her perspective.

It was safe to say that Eli had a harder time sleeping with the thought of some random man's head exploding due to a shout.

The steps seemed to mock Eli as he went down them, one stair at a time. It was as if every time he landed on one, they collectively shouted, "Not there yet!" and another one took its place. He thought about giving them a middle finger once he reached the first floor of the house but decided to try to look sane in this household.

"You didn't answer your phone last night," Leila greeted her son with a warning glare over her shoulder as she made breakfast. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Morning to you too…" Eli mumbled as he moved to set the table, lest she complained about that too.

"Bobby and I were thinking about pulling you from your old school because I never liked it." Leila told Eli. "I got an application for you for Ivy Town Middle College. You'll still be able to play sports- they actually made it to states semis last year. And, for the sake of our agreement and transportation, I have asked Nick to take you to take the driver's test."

Eli looked at his mother. Despite her hair being pinned up as if she was going to work, she was still in her nightgown and appeared not to be in a huge rush. And she spoke with the normal edginess in her voice missing, almost as if she was actually happy for some reason.

"Uh Lily," Robert's voice forced mother and son to look towards the stairs which Robert was descending while trying to clip his badge onto his coat pocket. "I'm getting off earlier tonight so I was thinking we could take the boys to that pizza shop downtown. You know, the one that makes the best apizza in state?"

Leila gave Robert a smile. "We will be ready," The woman then moved her sight onto her son. "Won't we, Elias?"

Eli shrugged. "Don't know. Might have to work late if the guys don't come in and do their shifts."

"Oh…" Robert response caused Eli to huff a bit as he saw Leila buy the "I tried to bond" act.

"Elias will be there and he will leave his attitude behind." Leila finalized. She then turned to the meal she was making and resumed cooking. "I'll make sure Sam is ready."

"You're not working?" asked Eli.

"I have some days off. I decided to spend time with my sons. Or at least, the one that still thinks of me as his mother."

Robert watched as Eli simply went back to setting the table. His understanding of this dysfunctional parent-child relationship was that Eli blamed Leila for leaving and Leila was done attempting to baby Eli to see otherwise. It brought along a lot of arguments and a few unsettling silences, like the one now. However, Robert knew best not to interfere. Regardless how they both felt about it, Eli and Leila were literally two peas of the same pod. Getting between them was equivalent of trying to stop two bulls from locking horns.

"I'm going to head out now," Robert said. "Eli, do you need a ride or-"

"I'll drop him off. Have a nice day Bobby." Leila cut her husband off.

Robert inhaled deeply. "Will do." He stepped over to his wife and kissed her. "Love you Lily."

"I love you too."

Eli rolled his eyes and sat down in a chair as the man walked away. There were many people who hated seeing their parents kiss. He had the luxury of watching another man kiss his mom. Sure, by now it had lost most of its anger factor as Eli was well-aware that they had made Sam doing a hell of a lot more than kissing. But it was still something he did not want to see in front of him.

"I wanted to go out tomorrow. Just you and me." Leila announced. "I won't force you to come with me, not this time, but I would appreciate it. I think we need to get to know each other all over again."

It was a suggestion, Eli mused. She had actually given him a proposal instead of an order. He wanted to recline the offer just because he had the ability to do so. But he knew that the woman would not give up in "reconnecting" with him and that it would either cut into his time as Hornet or his time with Barbara; neither being an ideal choice.

Sighing, Eli leaned back in his chair. "Fine Mama. But I have to work tomorrow and I doubt the kids will let me just take a day off." Leila turned to him as if something was wrong, something that alerted him. "What? What is it?"

"You agreed?" Eli's new heightened sense of danger lowered as he sighed by her words. "I… I wasn't expecting you to say yes."

Eli shook his head. "Then why did you ask?"

"Because I…" Leila stopped herself before visibly relaxing. "Do you have one of those 'lessons' today with Mr. Turner?"

To say that he was confused would be an understatement. Leila had gone from berating him for not answering his phone to asking him to spend time with her. He was unsure how to respond to her now. Hell, it had been easier tracking down Firefly and the Hound than it was figuring out what was going on in his mom's head.

"I did. You just canceled all of my after-work plans, remember?" Eli's answer was not as forceful as it was worded. If anything, he sounded unsure about everything that was happening.

"I said you had to make it to dinner. If you have plans, do them before then. Okay?"

Eli stared at the back of his mother, who had gone back to finishing their meal. There was clearly something wrong with this picture. Leila was happy, something unheard of for many years now. She was giving him options and did not voice any contempt when she said "Mr. Turner" as she had during previous weeks.

Sensing his silence as a troubling one, Leila looked over her shoulder at her son. "Problem, Elias?"

"…" Eli stared for another moment before shaking his head. "No. None at all."

"Good. Can you go wake your brother up? It's time to eat." Leila stated.

"Yeah…" Eli answered as he rose. "Mama… Are you alright?"

Leila gave him a smile. "I'm fine, Elias. Now go get your brother for me."

Eli sat for a few more seconds before rising. He narrowed his mother's happiness down to three likely things and one unlikely one. The first, and most disturbing one, was that the uptight woman got laid. It was juvenile and revolting but it was a pretty likable event. The second was that she had finally gotten a raise or something at work. That would make her happy. The third was that Robert had promised her something expensive; something on the lines of a new car or some crap like that. Leila was not as materialistic as other females that Eli knew but he was sure that, at their core, every woman/girl had a materialistic side to them.

The one thing he refused to believe, however, was that Leila was pleased to know that he would willingly join her the following day. His presence had once made her smile without him doing anything but that was a long, long time ago. Things were different now. There was just no way that him agreeing to spend tomorrow with the woman made her this happy. No way in hell.

* * *

Leila's attitude had stayed on Eli's mind until after he arrived at work and checked in. Miss Reynolds had been sitting in her office, as usual, when Eli had gotten the disturbing news of two kids hitting on Britney the previous night. The chubby woman had declared that the kids involved, including Britney, would be punished for fighting. But that did not sit well with Eli.

"Let it go," Cedric told Eli as the pair and Darcy stood in Miss Reynolds's office. "Don't make a scene that'll cause more trouble."

Darcy nodded her head although it was clear that she was not okay with the situation either. Darcy had combed her hand through her dark tresses too many times for her to be completely calm and her thin nostrils flared almost every time she inhaled. Eli knew that it must be killing the outspoken girl to be silent whilst Miss Reynolds's did "everything by the book" for the situation.

"You can't be serious," said Eli as he stared at Miss Reynolds, the woman sipping a Diet Coke from a can behind her desk. "How is this Britney's fault? Those kids should be punished, not her."

The chubby woman swallowed before eying Eli. "Because it's to my understanding that she provoked them."

"A scrawny five-year-old got under the skin of two teenagers to the point where they are justified for hitting her? Bull-"

"Eli!" Darcy stopped Eli before he could finish his statement. Eli ignored the girl and continued with his rant.

"No, this is bullshit. There's no way in hell that this is actually _legal_." Eli stated.

Miss Reynolds's eyes narrowed behind her red-framed glasses. "Watch yourself boy. Just because your mom is a lawyer does not give you the right to tell _me_ what's legal in _my_ house! So unless you want-"

Eli's hands slamming on the desk was enough to end all conversation for the moment as the teen wordlessly dared Miss Reynolds to say another word. The boy's rage was about to surpass its peak which was not necessarily a good thing when he had come accustomed to carrying two handguns and beating the hell out of anyone who slightly annoyed him as his alter ego.

"I don't need my mom to know right from wrong. Those kids bully Britney _every_ _fucking day_ and you do nothing about it!" Eli shouted with rage. "That girl doesn't deserve to be put through half the shit that you guys put her through!"

"Eli, remember where you're at. This isn't the time-"

"Then when the hell is the time Cedric?" Eli snapped at the older teen. "This isn't what I signed up for, to turn a blind eye to some little girl being abused because of a fucking tail!"

Miss Reynolds sat up in her chair, shoulders squared as she eyed the irate teenager. "I will look further into it. Is there anything else that you need to discuss with me, Mr. Jackson?"

"No." Eli grumbled.

"Then get your hands off of my desk and go do your job before you're fired for incompetence." Miss Reynolds's tone told the trio that she was finished with this debate.

Eli scoffed and turned moved away quickly. "Do your job first."

The threat was heard by the woman but she said nothing else as Eli left, Darcy quickly flanking the boy while Cedric tried to throw water on the flames with their boss.

"Eli!" Darcy called in a whisper-shout mix. "What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself fired?"

"This can't keep happening Darcy," Eli told her. "Britney's just a kid. She can't help being who she is no more than I can help being who I am."

Darcy sighed. "I know, I know. But you can't just attack our boss like that. You just low-key threatened to have your mom sue this whole place."

"Whatever Darcy."

"No," Darcy said grabbing Eli's wrist and stopping his departure. "You're not going to walk out of here like some thug with a vendetta. She needs you Eli. So go be there for Britney and then, when you're calm, _we'll_ come up with a better way to protect her. But until then you need to calm down."

Eli snatched his wrist from Darcy's grip. "Fine Darcy."

"You're a nice guy Eli. I just wish that you don't let your anger turn you into something or someone that you're not." said Darcy. "Look, I have to get to work- my other job. Can I trust that you'll act like the mature guy that puts up with Pete and not the guy that just tried to bite Miss Reynolds's head off?"

Eli was going to answer but caught the sight of Jack, a teenager that resided at the center. Darcy followed Eli's eyes to the boy who they knew was born in Cheshire Square before his parents abandoned him. Neither of the two workers said anything as Jack awkwardly approached them.

"Uh, Eli, can I… Can I talk to you?"

There was no verbal confirmation or consent from Eli. Eli instead looked at Darcy as she patted Eli on the shoulder and walked away. Eli followed her with his eyes for a moment, believing that he- as Hornet- could have just thrown a dart into her back and beat the hell out Miss Reynolds and the staff hurting Britney before Darcy woke up. Instead, he just looked at Jack and nodded his head.

"Well… The other day we were at the park down the road to play a game of twenty-one and some guys came to talk to me." The dark-skinned boy said to Eli. "They were from the SRC."

Eli sighed heavily. "I get it."

"They told me to…" Jack paused which caused Eli to shake his head.

Jack was, for all intents and purposes, a pretty clean kid. He had dreams of playing for the 76ers in the next four years or so. Unfortunately, Jack was also born on Mil Santos Boulevard and thus subject to be approached by the Saints Row Children for recruitment. From experience, Eli knew how enticing their offers could be. He just hoped that Jack was not intrigued.

"They want me," quietly said Jack. "To push this drug through the house. Said that there were some workers who used and that it would be 'good for business'. They said I had a duty as a black man and a Saints Row child to do so."

Eli nodded his head while stuffing his hands into his khaki pants pockets. "They said something similar to me."

"Cedric said you were from Mancastle?" Jack stated with a look of confusion on his face.

"I _live_ in Mancastle. I'm from Cheshire Square, just like you." answered Eli. "Listen, I know Eric." Jack's eyes went wide. "I'll talk to him to see if I can get them off of your back. Meantime, stay on the grounds even if you're given permission to leave." Eli then frowned. "And who supervised you guys at the park?"

Eli's question was met by a familiar silence. The "no-snitch" silence had become a popular sound around the city. Normally, it never bothered Eli at all if someone wanted to reveal what they knew or not. But today, when it was Eli who needed the information, the silence was a greater annoyance than ever before.

"Fine. I'll deal with that too." Eli spoke in a heated tone. "In the meantime, keep an eye out for Britney."

Jack nodded his head furiously. "Yeah, sure man. Thanks for this. I… I don't want to get involve with the stuff that took my parents away from me, you know?"

"Like I said, you watch after Britney and I'll handle it. Don't talk to anyone else about it." Eli said.

Jack agreed to the deal and walked down the polished hallway that led back to the recreational room. Exasperated, Eli put a hand onto his head. Jade was right. Small problems did become bigger problems if left unattended to. The Saints Row Children were a small problem. Their total fatality count was nowhere near the other gangs within the city- the gangs that killed vigilantes for a living.

Sadly, Eli realized that nothing had really changed except his perspective of the group. Sure, he knew that they were trouble prior to becoming Hornet but that was from the viewpoint of a friend to a good number of the group who just had a slightly different upbringing. It was the cops' jobs to stop the SRC, not his. Now it was his job to stop them. Which meant his friendship with George was about to take a turn for the worse.

Would he kill him?

Eli wandered towards the front exit with that thought in mind. Would he have to kill either Eric or George in order to do what he knew he had to? How in the hell would he face himself knowing that he took the lives of two guys he has known practically all of his life?

Did Malcolm have to face these problems? Were there people that the Army Ant knew personally, was friend with for years, and yet still had to put them in a jail cell or hospital bed?

Eli found himself stepping out into the front of the building, taking in several deep calming breaths. Today had not been an easy day to manage. For starters, his mother smiled. Something that small seemingly threw his entire day off and he was unsure if it was a good thing or not.

"Are you coming back in or what?"

Daydreaming was a dangerous thing, especially when one forgot where they were and how long they've been in said daydream. Eli realized that as soon as he heard Pete's voice.

"You've been out here for a while," Pete stated as he fixed his dark blond hair in its pompadour style- something he did often for some reason. "Kids began to worry when you stormed out."

"I'm fine." Eli told the taller teen.

Pete shrugged his narrow shoulders. "Maybe. Didn't sound like when you were in there bitching over Britney."

"Don't start with me Pete." Pete rolled his brown eyes.

"Whatever _Ee-lie-us._ "

Eli grunted. His mother had problems with people saying her name right but he would not go through the same. "It's Ee-lee-as. _Elias_. Not complicated. The letter 'E' the name 'Lee' and 'as'. Elias."

"Yeah, sure, but-"

"Say my goddamn name!" Eli growled. Pete stood frozen which only further angered Eli. "Say it!"

"Elias!" Pete replied. "Jesus Christ, man! What the fuck's wrong with you!"

Eli only inhaled deeply. There were too many things wrong with him honestly. The Hound was loose. Firefly mysteriously died in prison. Eli was no closer finding Bookworm now than he was prior to going to Gotham City. Add in the fact that he had not talked to Mallory, someone who he honestly looked to as an older sister for guidance at points, and it was not hard for Eli to see where his summer vacation had gone wrong.

And now Pete had the audacity to butcher his name.

"Seriously dude, what's gotten into you? You're like super pissed over small shit." Eli cut Pete a hardened glare that he was adopting from Ben.

"My name isn't 'small shit' Pete. It's my fucking name." Eli spat back. "And if you, or anyone else, want to refer to me as _anything_ it'll better be my name. Got it?" Pete nodded his head as Eli looked away from Pete. "Besides, Britney doesn't deserve what's been happening to her. We can't just let it keep happening to her."

"This is your job, man. Not your life partner." responded a scoffing Pete, hand fixing his hair again. "When you started, I told Miss Reynolds that I'd keep you from doing something stupid. This is it."

"Looking after a girl is stupid?" was the incredulous response from Eli.

Pete nodded his head. "Dude, it's way more than that. It's becoming attached to them and thinking that _you_ can save them. That's not how this works and that's not how it ever will."

Eli stood quietly for a minute before responding. "My job… I have to do my job…"

"Yeah," replied Pete. "And it's not to change the rules for every kid who cries. I've known Britney longer than you- she's a troublemaker. Don't fall for her fake tears."

"Pete."

"Yeah man?"

Eli gave the older boy another hardened glare. "Get the hell away from me before I kick your rich scrawny ass."

Pete stood in disbelief for a few seconds before scoffing, "Whatever man."

Eli watched Pete return inside the building before letting his brown eyes glide back up to the partly cloudy sky.

To think, there was once a time when none of this would have mattered and he would be spending most of his days at the park or some party in Venice Terrace. Now he was focused on finding criminals and beating the hell out of some coworkers to aid a little girl.

Maybe, he thought, maybe this is what his father went through. Long hours of the day spent thinking about the safety of random children who he didn't know. Who would want to do that? And why was Eli currently doing it?

"This is why you went crazy, isn't it?" Eli voiced quietly, hoping that his dad heard him on the other side. "Why'd you do it if it was driving you mad?" Eli stood in silence before shaking his head. "I'll understand when I'm older, I guess."

The answer Eli's mind provided was an answer he had heard from both parents multiple times over his life: "You'll understand when you're older." It may have worked with sex and he could see how relationships were a lot more complicated than he earlier perceived. But he doubted that he would ever understand why people willingly chose to become a vigilante.

* * *

Britney had not been as cheerful as normal but Ms. Reynolds had practically forced Eli to leave early- not too long after Cedric and Darcy left. Eli had not been worried about being fired, not at first. His first and main concern was Britney. He was not particularly fond of children clinging to him but there was something about the child that amused him. She was, in Eli's mind at least, the not-as-annoying version of Sam.

But of course, work was only half of the teen's day.

The bad news grew worse when Nick left unexpectedly to visit his son in Boston for a few days. This meant that Eli would either have to sneak by Nick's nosey neighbors to access the cabin or use his apartment instead. On a day like today where there were more people outside than in, especially in Madison, sneaking around without the comfort of high-up rooftops or large trees was easier said than done.

So, with his "family dinner" later today, Eli found himself wandering back to the gym. The Black Canary was currently present upstairs instead of down, pounding away against a punching bag. He stood awkwardly, watching her for minutes until she stopped and looked at him.

"Your suit's downstairs." The blonde announced as she grabbed a towel off of the floor and wiped her sweaty forehead with it. "I thought we could pick up on the training today before you run out and scare some more kids."

Eli sighed quietly. "I don't have long. I'm having a family dinner and…" It was then that Eli noticed a pair of green gloves on the floor and glared at Dinah. "Who else is here?"

"Well, well, you were right," A voice caused Eli to spot a figure coming up the stairs to his left. "He is quite the observer."

Eli studied the man before looking at Dinah. "Your boyfriend?"

"Unfortunately, he's here." Black Canary joked. "He wanted to see if your aim was as good as, well, his."

Eli stared at the topless man with an uneasy feeling about him. The teen had not gotten used to the Black Canary helping him out yet he somehow knew that this blond man was going to somehow be annoying.

"So," the man said with a confident smile. "Ever used a bow?"

Yeah. Eli already hated this guy.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Warnings:** The chapter is rated a very light T for Teen for mild swearing.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Sixteen: When Pressure Builds Pt. II

"Elias… Are you up?"

Eli's eyes rolled off of the lit screen in front of him and bore a hole into his bedroom door. He was in pain thanks to the combined efforts of the Black Canary and the newly introduced Green Arrow. And while Eli recognized who the Green Arrow was (then again, it was hard _not_ to know a famous multi-millionaire playboy) he was not at the liberty of discussing that information with anyone due to the guy's insanely great aim. Eli would not want to be overheard by his new mentors and risk an arrow hitting him from Ivy Town.

Painfully, Eli rolled out of bed and sat his laptop down on the empty bed. "Yeah Mama, I'm up." The boy trudged towards the door and opened it. "I'll be ready in a few minutes. Just give me a moment."

Leila studied her son before shaking her head. "You overdid it again, didn't you?"

"No," Eli answered. It was a blatant lie that somehow managed to come out less sarcastic as it sounded in his head. Black Canary's training was brutal but Green Arrow's… Seriously, pulling the bowstring of a bow took more energy than most people knew. "I'll be down in a second."

Leila's lips thinned but she took in a calming breath and nodded. "I'll be ready."

"Okay."

Eli slowly closed his door afterwards to not offend his mother but regain some privacy within her house. He had to get everything out of his mind for a moment- at least for the day. Leila would sense it and then things would go south from there.

She was already suspicious about last night.

Eli had joined his mother, his half-brother, and stepfather for dinner at Good Knight's Pizza and Subs the previous night. The scene for their "family dinner" was not the problem. If anything, it had been the highlight of the night as Eli was a big apizza fan. But Eli was not a fan of Robert's questioning Eli's private life such as Barbara.

 _However_ … Due to Eli's earlier meeting with Dinah and her boyfriend, Eli was all too tired to even give the man the natural attitude every other teenager has against their stepparent. Instead, Eli could only shrug his shoulders every now and again and that had somehow alerted Leila that something was not right. All in all, the woman was a hawk when it came to spotting small changes in Eli's character and he feared that sooner or later, she would uncover his activities as Hornet.

"Elias, if you don't hurry, you'll be late for work!" Leila called.

Eli's eyes rolled upwards to the ceiling. Maybe today would be the day where he could take his frustrations out on some poor dumbass who crossed Hornet. Hell, if he was _really_ lucky that person would be Bookworm and/or Tobias Whale. But if he could not get to them then a couple of low-lives starting with the staff of the Stagg Youth Home Program would do.

And then the SRC…

* * *

So what has happened since Hornet ran roughshod through Gotham City? There were many things that directly and indirectly happened.

The death of Firefly had been a major red flag that waved over the GCPD. To have some murderous "hero" claim that the GCPD had crooked cops was not good publicity. Having a known villain, one brought in by Hornet no less, die in custody less than twelve hours of his arrest did not do the boys in blue a favor.

The Hound escaping was also a very big thing and had Jim Gordon _furious_. To have a man who worked for several mob families within the city literally slip from the grasp was something the seasoned commissioner was not too pleased about and had demanded that the fugitive be found immediately. Of course, Jim's worry that the Hound would wind up dead by the Hornet was seen the last time Nightwing spoke to the GCPD commissioner.

And the Hound most likely would.

There was also a mysterious murder of Officer Mo Anderson the day of Hornet's last sighting in Gotham. The man had his throat hacked in one clean slice- something uncommon from Hornet victims. His partner claimed that Hornet was not there but a girl in green with a sword. Nightwing knew that that description matched the girl who had aided Hornet in New Camford. It was a long shot but Nightwing was sure that if she was present in Gotham City this entire time, then Hornet didn't kill those guys in the Gotham Narrows. She did.

"Slept down here again?" The teasing question came from one Barbara Gordon.

Well damn. And just when he thought he would get away with it too.

"Late night," Richard grumbled as he attempted to fix his dark tresses with just his hand. He had no idea when Barbara had gotten to Bludhaven or even when she entered the bunker. But here she was, present in tight blue jeans and a pink Wonder Woman t-shirt, in the warehouse.

Richard studied her smirk and groaned. "Don't you have to work today?"

"Would I be here if I did?" Her response was both cheeky and obvious, two things people normally hated to hear right after they woke up. But for Richard, it signaled to him that Barbara was in a good mood. "So, what have you learned?"

"On?"

Barbara shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. You're obviously working on something. I thought it would be on Tobias Whale but I busted some of his guys last night and Nightwing was a no-show."

"Three different robberies," countered Richard as he sat up on the medical bed that he was previously sleeping on. "And that doesn't start with the losers rioting in the Narrows." His blue eyes followed Barbara as she walked over to the computer stationed in the satellite cave. "You need something?"

"The guys from last night," Barbara said while typing something into the computer. "Said something about deliveries from Dakota City to New Camford that were stopped. I didn't know much about it until I looked it up earlier and," Barbara pressed the enter key and turned to face Richard, letting the monitor reveal her discovery. "Seems as if you have help."

Richard got up from the bed in tank top and shorts that he had slept in. He looked at the two articles that Barbara had pulled up.

Barbara, seeing Richard already reading one of the articles, continued, "Seems as if you and Hornet aren't the only ones chasing after Tobias Whale and his group. Apparently Static and Rocket have been doing the same thing."

"Problem is," replied Richard, still reading the screen. "I don't know Static or Rocket… Yet."

"And you know Hornet?"

"I trust Hornet. Big difference." Barbara released a disapproving grunt that gained the boy's attention. "He's a little rough around the edges, but he's smart- _way_ smarter than you give him credit for."

"I don't see deaths caused by Static or Rocket either." Barbara gave her usual argument.

"That point is getting smaller and smaller," Nightwing conceded before getting back on track. "What do you know about the shipment that went to or from Dakota?"

Barbara crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. "Nothing much. Just that it was a few drugs- coke and weed mostly- and that there was some hold up in New Camford that forced the shipment to come to Gotham. The guys I got were pretty useless."

"And that," said Richard snapping his fingers. "Is where Hornet comes in. Nothing scares these guys more than eying death, or someone that can bring it to them, in their face."

" _Anyway_ ," Barbara did not easily concede when her mind was made up on one thought or the other. "They weren't much help but when I pieced together that it was a Whale shipment, I came here with the information."

This got Richard to lift his brows in surprise. "You came here right after you got the information? You didn't sleep or call your boyfriend in-between the time?" Barbara scoffed as a spray of pink appeared on her cheeks. "So you did both of those things, huh?"

"So what if I did?" was the defiant response from Barbara.

"Hey, I'm just getting your story straight. Nothing personal." Richard said with his hands held in front of him in a surrendering fashion. "No need to be hostile about it."

Barbara turned in her seat. "Back on topic, if Static or Rocket has any new information on Tobias Whale, you're one step closer to bringing him down."

"You're right," Richard said. "What do you we know about them?"

"Rocket was a partner of Icon and apparently has been doing this for a while. From reports, she seems to be a smart vocal girl. Quite strong too."

Richard nodded his head. "Another you with strength. Just what I needed." Barbara scoffed. "And Static?"

"Goes by Static Shock or just Static. Lightning powers probably gained during the Big Bang. He's been a hero for a year, maybe more. Nothing but a local hero but useful." Barbara explained. "From what I saw from news reports, he's a bit a showboat. Could probably be the guy that pushes your friend in yellow over the edge."

Richard took in the information. Counting the possibility of Rocket and Static that made seven members of his unnamed initiation.

Firstly, there was Batgirl. Batgirl's strengths lied in her computer hacking abilities which he admits surpassed his own. She was also a good fighter, an incredible acrobat, and a pretty damn good detective. The redhead was also a pretty good on-field medic and not a bad cook. Batgirl was family friendly which helped with public opinion of vigilantes and could be the middleman- middle woman actually- between the group and the local authorities.

Next was Hornet. The guy was not the best at sneaking around but made up for it with his detective abilities and fear factor. Hornet was also patient enough to know when and where to strike, gaining evidence on Holocaust without the Bang Baby even knowing. Hornet's blunt somewhat rude manner made him someone Richard did not trust standing in front of a microphone and camera but the younger adults and teenagers loved the guy's rebellious attitude.

Speedy was someone that Richard had met only once and it was a quick meeting at that. Due to some difference(s) between Bruce and Oliver (as well as Batman and Green Arrow), Robin and Speedy did not exchange a lot of words. Despite this, Richard knew that he and the redhead archer were quite similar; Speedy being more of a, dare he say, dick than he was. Speedy was short-tempered at points but was just as ready to leave Green Arrow's shadow as Robin was with Batman. Richard only knew this as the term "sidekick" seemed to trigger Speedy on a deep personal nerve. However, the archer was crafty, sneaky, and unafraid to face danger in the eye.

Then there was the relatively unheard of Wonder Girl- Wonder Woman's apparent daughter. The blonde was shown using strength above the average human being and she could fly but nothing much was known about her. Richard had planned to go down to D.C and meet her to see just how well that pair up.

"Dick, did you hear me?"

Richard glanced at Barbara. "No, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked if you could tell me more about Tobias's operations." Barbara repeated.

"From what I've uncovered-"

"With Hornet, no doubt." inputted the redhead.

"Fine. What _we_ uncovered," Richard restated before continuing. "Tobias is pushing drugs and weapons to gangs and smaller organization in exchange for property and money. He controls several neighborhoods in Metropolis, Gotham, Bludhaven, and New Camford. He's going westward with Dakota in his sights. But with Killer Moth currently locked up at the moment, his weapon distribution will drop and he'll need to find a new weapons supplier."

Absorbing the information, Barbara gave Richard a small nod. "Killer Moth's weapons were high-grade and manufactured by Killer Moth himself. Without Moth, Whale would have to search the black market for more weapons."

"Thankfully, Hornet's been able to track down a number of Moth's weapon caches. I'm sure he can find the others." Barbara seemed skeptical of Richard's answer though the former Robin ignored her cynicism. "I won't say that I approve of his methods, but I do like his potential and results."

"His potential to do what exactly? Kill half of Whale's organization and scare the others into Arkham Asylum?" countered Barbara.

"You don't have to agree with his methods but the fact is that neither of us took down Killer Moth or Firefly. He did."

"Yes. And he did that after _killing_ several of men who were working for Killer Moth. So-"

"I don't think he fired that rifle. And neither do you," Richard's words gained a small shrug from Barbara. "I'm not asking you to become his best friend but trust me on this one. I don't think Hornet is as bad as they make him seem. He actually cares about saving people."

"I hope you're right." Barbara said with an exasperated breath.

"I know so," responded Richard. "Now are you coming with me? I need to go check something out."

Barbara frowned. "Where are you going?"

"D.C., of course," Richard answered while looking back at the screen. "There's someone I have to see in person."

Barbara quietly told Richard that she was "okay" with his decision to go but the boy hardly paid her much attention. At the moment, Richard was thinking about Tobias's operation and how Static and Rocket could aid him. He would most likely have to read up or watch their heroics online before making his way to Dakota City. He had to make sure that the pair could be as helpful to him as Hornet had been in leading up to taking in Killer Moth and Firefly.

Richard thoughtfully hummed as he read some more. While he had taken a small pause in figuring out just who Hornet was, he had not forgone his original wish of working with Hornet. Richard knew that somewhere within Hornet was someone who ultimately wanted to make New Camford, and the world, a better place.

If only he could get the Yellow Jacket to stop killing…

An alarm caught both teenagers' attention, their eyes locked onto the alert flashing on the screen.

"Kenny Hemi? Who is that?" Barbara questioned as she read the name off of the screen.

"Real name is Kenneth Hennington, works at car garage downtown. A guy I met days before I went to New Camford. He's my unofficial CI in Whale's organization." explained Richard. "I've been following him to find more of Whale's drug stashes in the city. He's actually been more helpful than the cops."

"Something tells me that you're about to pay Kenny a visit, and not the friendly kind."

Richard smirked. "Something is absolutely right."

* * *

 _"I would like to remind you that vigilantism is illegal in the state of Connecticut- more so in the City without Heroes, New Camford. And it gets worse when I see this Yellow Jacket character in Gotham City attacking the GCPD. And what happens? The citizens of Gotham City parade this punk and, because of that, James Gordon- the freaking commissioner now- was seen colluding with the Yellow Jacket and two others!"_

 _"And what do you think can be done to the Yellow Jacket and others like him?"_

 _"It's hard to tell. Superman is an alien who abides by his own rules but has not killed anyone. Not directly, at least. But he has done tons in property damage and has paid for nothing. And then there is the Yellow Jacket, a thug in a mask killing other thugs. He has attacked cops, held teenagers- children for crying out loud- at gunpoint, and has left dead bodies in his wake. He's on a path to be worse than Batman or-"_

The TV was turned off by Oliver who was wiping his sweaty forehead with a small towel. The man was currently working out in the gym in Ivy Town. He had been rather impressed by Eli's resolve the previous night, Eli's hatred to lose being what fueled the boy to endure most of Oliver's and Dinah's training regimes. That, and the thought of actually taking down Tobias Whale.

Now that was something Oliver would pay to see; Tobias Whale stopped by Hornet…

"Well the kid has fans." Oliver said to Dinah, the woman currently throwing punches at the punching bag in the gym. "You sure you can help him?"

Dinah sighed, stopping her punches. "I don't know."

Truthfully, Dinah had no idea how to help Eli in regards of being a hero. Eli was a natural detective (when he applied himself that is) and was not a bad marksman. His penchant for solving things had him chasing ghosts and criminals every time he put on his mask. All of this and Eli's personal code made it hard for him to just be a typical hero. When he gathered enough proof that someone did wrong, he went after them and had no problem taking out anyone who tried to get in his way.

If, Dinah reasoned with herself, _if_ she could get through to him then it was a win-win for all. She would be able to lower (if not completely stop) Eli from killing and give heroes in general better publicity. But she doubted that she could do but so much. The Black Canary was not the best role model to have.

Sensing some inner strife, Oliver spoke up, "What's on your mind Pretty Bird?"

"Nothing," said the sighing woman. She placed her left hand on the punching bag. "Just thinking how some kid from New Camford runs into the Bronze Tiger. Can I even trust a student of the Ronin?"

"I doubt we have to worry about a seventeen-year-old kid who doesn't even know how to utilize half of what he knows. I'm sure if some girl walked by, he'd lose his focus on us long enough for us-"

"Won't work," Dinah interrupted with a half-smile. "He's been dating Batgirl." Oliver's eyes widened at the information. "Seems as if the World's Greatest Detective can't even keep an eye out for his teenage partner."

Oliver released a whistle. "I'd hate to be the guy to reveal to the Bat that the Yellow Jacket is banging his junior partner. Hell, I'd hate to tell Gordon!"

"Apparently, they don't have any clue about each other so that's how we'll leave it. Eventually their so-called detective skills will kick in they will unmask each other."

"They're teenagers. The masks will probably be the last thing that comes off." Dinah rolled her eyes at Oliver's perverted comment. "But you're not worried about that. You're seeing a kid becoming a vigilante to avenge her parents."

Dinah's blue eyes skated to the floor. "It's not like that Ollie."

"It's _exactly_ like that." Oliver concluded with a smile. "It's the same with-" The man's words were ended when his cell phone, which was in a bag near the stairs, started to ring. "That's probably Roy. He and Hal have probably destroyed half of Star City by now."

Dinah said nothing as Oliver moved to answer his phone. In her mind, she was replaying everything Ben had told her about Hornet prior to meeting the teen; things such as his deep hatred of his mother's marriage to his stepfather or how Eli despised the "Killer Bee" nickname. Ben had also, from Jade's tale, spoken about Eli's reaction to his first kill. But the main thing Ben pressed on was that Eli was still chasing a father he thought he knew. Maybe it would lead him to become someone like the Black Canary or maybe it would transform him into Bane. Either way, Ben knew that Eli's current resolve was a dangerous weapon to wield.

It almost made her forget that she was trying to make a hero in a city where heroes are .

"Hey," Oliver gained her focus. "I have to fly to Star City. Count Vertigo and Onomatopoeia are giving Roy more than he can handle and Hal has a small problem of his own."

"Go. I can handle things over here." said Dinah before eying the punching bag again. "But I'm going out tonight. I want to see how it feels to actually have a sidekick."

"What? Batgirl wasn't enough so now you're stealing her boyfriend?" joked Oliver.

Dinah smirked. "Kid's gotta learn to fly, right?"

"Just don't kill him," Oliver spoke as he walked towards the stairs. "The last thing we need is for the Batman trying to figure out why his junior doesn't have a date to prom." Oliver paused. "Or worse, the Bronze Tiger."

As Oliver descended the stairs with a chuckle, Dinah stared at the punching bag. The Ronin were a fearsome foursome of the world's deadliest assassins. The four included: Ben Turner, Sandra Wu-san, Richard Dragon, and Constantine Drakon. Separately they were everything any martial artist inspired to be; together they were collectively the world's most common fear. Dinah had been fortunate enough to have battled Sandra (Lady Shiva) to the point that she earned the woman's respect- which more than made up for the actual loss Dinah suffered. But the other three were people who Dinah, and Oliver for that matter, made sure to never cross on a bad day.

Or a good one for that matter.

So how in the hell did some random kid with no connection to the fighting world come into contact with the Ronin? It wasn't like the kid was special and Bronze Tiger sought him out, so what was it? Did Eli so happen to walk in on Ben changing into costume and live to tell the tale? Or was there something the wily teenager actually had over the Bronze Tiger?

That couldn't be it.

Maybe it had something to do with someone _other_ than Ben; someone close enough to Ben that could get the man to cave into Eli's demand to be trained. That seemed like a more believable scenario thought it left Dinah to question: Just who was close enough to the Bronze Tiger that _wasn't_ a highly skilled assassin and how did Eli win a favor over them?

Sighing, the woman resumed her attack on the punching bag.

Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

Richard was not pleased by the fact that Kenny had gone to another meeting that had nothing to do with Tobias Whale or Killer Moth. In the back of his mind he could hear Bruce's voice saying over and over, "This wouldn't have happened if I was there." Batman's CIs never strayed far from the goals, so why did Nightwing have an informant going to a meeting with a shady lawyer over said informant's child custody case?

A heavy breath left Richard's lips. That was over two hours ago. He should learn to let the small things go or be transformed into someone so caught up in crime-fighting that they forget things like Christmas or birthdays.

"Are you okay?"

Richard chose not to say anything, opting to nod his head to the redhead who had taken the trip to Washington, D.C. with him. Of course he was lying but now was not the time to talk about it. He pushed his small slip-up into the back of his mind to focus on the mission at hand.

Just like _he_ had taught Robin to do…

"How are we supposed to find her?" Batgirl asked.

The pair was in downtown D.C., scouring rooftops to find this mysterious Wonder Girl. One would think that a flying blonde in a red and gold armor would be relatively easy on a clear day but that was not the case.

"You think there's a light we can shine to get her attention?" Batgirl joked quietly.

Now Nightwing smiled. "Maybe she has a phone like the Powerpuff Girls?"

"Wouldn't that be nice?" Batgirl said.

The duo stood quietly and looked over the bustling capital, the building roof that they occupied giving them a nice skyline of the downtown area. Nightwing would search for sirens that he could hear in the distance, hoping to see the blonde that he was searching for.

"I didn't know Batman was sending his children to spy on me."

The familiar voice came from behind the duo, Batgirl and Nightwing turning at attention quickly. Slowly drifting from the heavens was Wonder Woman, her blue eyes focused on Nightwing and Batgirl. Behind the Amazon was the missing blonde who descended just as gracefully as her mother in front of her.

Nightwing studied the blonde carefully. Obviously, she was beautiful as one would expect of the daughter of Wonder Woman. The girl was young, possibly his age, and her gentle face looked friendlier than Wonder Woman's. While Richard had seen Wonder Girl in her red and gold armor that resembled Wonder Woman's, the girl today wore a red shirt with the Wonder Woman symbol on the front and black pants with knee-high red boots.

"Oh, no! He didn't send us here!" Batgirl spoke first, pleased to speak to one of her role models. "We, _he_ actually, came for Wonder Girl."

Wonder Woman's face showed her surprise. "Should I be worried that Batman's protégé wants to speak to my daughter? If I remember correctly, he had bad timing for dates."

And now Richard remembers why he opted not to get Bruce's help here. Bruce's previous relationship with Diana Prince was well-documented by every journalist in Gotham City, Vicki Vale especially. The relationship did not last long (albeit longer than Richard and Alfred had betted it would) and it was a hush subject that not even Superman himself dared to whisper around Wonder Woman.

"No, it's nothing like that." Richard said as respectful as possible. "I was starting an initiative, a group for junior partners-"

"Sidekicks?" Wonder Woman implied.

Nightwing bristled. "Yeah, junior partners. I wanted to see Wonder Girl in action, first-hand."

"You think that I can be a hero? On my own?" Wonder Girl asked with genuine interest.

"Um, yeah, I do," said Nightwing. "There are others that we're looking at too. Static and Rocket from Dakota City. Speedy in Star City."

Wonder Girl's eyes widened. "What about the Yellow Jacket?"

Batgirl visibly sneered for a moment before her face rested into a neutral position. The commissioner's daughter did not understand why people were fascinated by the insect gun-slinger. So what if he broke rules, used guns, and was arguably the most talked about person from New Camford at this moment? He was a menace and-

"Already have him on board. Sort of." Nigthwing stated. He could see Wonder Girl's interest at meeting Hornet. He could use that to his advantage to get a new powerhouse.

"I wanted to meet him. He seems… Different. Like, he doesn't take-"

"Does Batman know that you are working with the Yellow Jacket?" Wonder Woman cut her daughter's enthusiasm in half with her comment. "His tactics seem to be unorthodox, or something that I don't see Batman getting behind."

Batgirl quietly scoffed. "He's _not_ okay with it at all."

"But this isn't Batman's thing. It's mine. And I've worked with him before. He helped me take down Killer Moth, Firefly, and found out information on Tobias Whale for me." Nightwing said, sending Batgirl a sharp glare before turning his look back to Wonder Girl. "I can vouch for him. He's a little rough around the edges but not necessarily unworkable."

"I hear he can do the Batman trick." Wonder Girl stated. "You know, the smoke disappearing trick?"

Nightwing chuckled lightly. "Yeah, he can do that. He's also pretty smart."

"And a known killer," Wonder Woman's words seemingly put an end to her daughter's and Nightwing's conversation. "Listen Robin-"

"It's Nightwing now." corrected the boy.

"Right, Nightwing," continued the Amazon woman. "While I appreciate the honor to be considered a role model for many little girls, and boys, I am not a hero. I don't search for those who break man's law. I am here to maintain peace. That is what I want to teach my daughter; not to be a symbol of vengeance or vigilance, but to be a bringer of peace."

Silence followed with Barbara and Richard looking at the quiet Wonder Girl. Both of them understood what having a parent inside the hero game was like, albeit Barbara's adopted father didn't know that she was Batgirl. Still, they knew what it felt like when the proverbial foot had been put down and whatever they wanted to do was better forgotten or done at their own risk.

"However," Diana stated. "If Wonder Girl wants to help, and it's nothing _too_ dangerous, then she is permitted to aid your cause."

Joy seemed to illuminate Wonder Girl's blue eyes, a smile present on her face. "Thank you Mom! I won't fail you!"

"I have faith that you won't." Wonder Woman said before her eyes cut to Nightwing. "And he's going to make sure of that. Clear?"

"Yes ma'am." Nightwing gave a quick answer. He knew he couldn't best Wonder Woman and was not in a hurry to see how long he would last against her.

"Batgirl, there is a stand-off between three gunmen and the police in Deanwood. Wonder Girl, escort her there. I need to talk to Nightwing."

Neither girl refused the command from the Princess of Themyscira and left rather hastily, though Batgirl did give her ex an apologetic look before doing so. Nightwing felt unnerved by Wonder Woman's gaze; almost as if he expected her to have heat vision or some other form of painful eye beams.

"You have the natural skills of a leader," Wonder Woman said after a minute of silence. "So if you see potential in those you picked, then so be it. But do you think that they are capable of working towards the same goal as you are? Will they be able to join together for a common cause?"

"Batgirl and I want the same thing. We want to protect the city of Gotham as much as our father figures do. We are willing to put everything on the line every night to make sure that the men, women, and children of our city can go out without worrying about much."

Wonder Woman nodded. "And the Yellow Jacket?"

"He wants to take down those who have done wrong and have not answered for it yet." Nightwing answered. "Tobias Whale killed a boy named Earl years ago and, despite people knowing he did it, he hasn't been arrested for it. That's what drives Hornet. He doesn't care how he does it, he just wants to make criminals pay."

"My daughter sometimes confuses what I do for heroics. My goal was not to give people someone to call when their cat is stuck in a tree. I wanted to inspire people to do better, _be_ better, and achieve peace and love worldwide." Wonder Woman stated. "Her duties will undoubtedly grow as she does, but for now, being a heroine for young girls is what she inspires to be. Can you help her become that while helping everyone else reach their individual goals?"

Nightwing stood quietly as he tried to find the best answer to the question. Truthfully, he did not know Speedy, Static, or Rocket to answer that question honestly. What were their goals? What were their ambitions? And would they work well with Batgirl- or Hornet? Maybe more the former than the latter, but the question was if they could work well with each other.

Oddly, he gained his answer, not from Batman, but from the Killer Bee himself.

"Regardless of our individual goals," Richard recited. "Our collective goal is to give citizens answers as to why their moms, dads, kids, aunts, uncles, friends, whoever are killed or hurt by these guys we're going after. We will give the innocent the answers they deserve while bringing in those responsible."

Wonder Woman seemed annoyed by the answer which caused Nightwing to prepare for a lecture. Once more, being the former sidekick of Batman gave him a newfound hatred for lectures. They were important, sometimes, but normally just pointed out his mistakes.

And then Wonder Woman turned. "Wise words. Are they yours?"

"Actually," chuckled Nightwing. "Hornet's."

"A part of being a good leader is to listen to those you are leading. Remember that." Wonder Woman stated as she hovered in front of Nightwing. The woman paused in her departure and gave Nightwing one final questioning glance. "Have you thought of a name yet?"

"Not yet. Any ideas?" returned the teen.

"It should be something to reflect who you guys are as a group, as a team." Wonder Woman answered. "It'll come to you. I'm sure it will… And if you can, make sure you keep an eye on Lyta. Her fondness for the Yellow Jacket worries me."

Nightwing gave the woman a nod before the dark-haired beauty flew off with Nightwing standing on the roof with his thoughts. Name aside, Nightwing thought about just exactly he was looking to achieve with this group. Sadly, there was a part of him that knew he was doing this just to prove to Bruce that he could. But he did want to help people. The thought of saving a life is what made Robin continue to do what he did so that no child went through what he did. And while he was no longer Robin, he still maintained his earlier beliefs.

Turning, Nightwing gazed out at the capital city. He knew Bruce had talked to Wonder Woman before he got down here which is probably why the woman agreed to allow Wonder Girl join Nighting, but that was alright. For now, he had to secure Hornet's spot on the team and then move on to the next stop: Dakota City.

* * *

Leila's Mercedes hummed quietly as it smoothly glided through the streets of Ivy Town. Eli sat in the passenger seat with his eyes focused on the passing buildings. There was not much said between mother and son since Leila picked Eli up from work, then again, there was nothing to talk about. They were going to have a day of "bonding" which meant that at some point, Leila would reveal something else about her past and Eli would eventually walk away to try to track down Whale and/or Bookworm.

"Are you alright, Elias?" Eli rolled his eyes to his mother, staring at her with a lack of interest for the conversation. Leila obviously ignored his disinterest and continued, "You looked exhausted and worn down earlier. Working with children can't help with that, so I ask: Are you alright Elias?"

"Fine."

The one word answer earned him a sharp glare from Leila. Her brown eyes focused on him for the longest ten seconds of his life before she turned them back onto the road. Her fingers gave the steering wheel a strangling squeeze and then they relaxed altogether.

"He felt as if he had a duty to uphold," Leila suddenly said, drawing Eli's attention away from the scenery. "He told me that what they did in Qurac was morally wrong and he wanted to undo his sins the best way possible. He owed it to the people."

"Wha… What are you talking about?" Eli knew; he fucking _knew_ what she was talking about. She was revealing what made Malcolm become a vigilante and it bothered him because she _fucking knew_ this entire time! He had bruises on his body- _blood on his hands_ \- and she had the answer to his question all along!

Leila sighed. "I never believed him though. I know there was another reason, I just couldn't…" Leila paused. "It's who he was, I suppose."

Eli sat perfectly _irritatingly_ still. "You knew?"

"I've _never_ left you father, Elias." Leila pointed out hotly if she was exonerating herself from some unknown crime. "I spoke to him whenever we had the chance. We talked."

"You _knew_?" Eli repeated, this time letting his anger drip with his words.

"And now so do you." said the woman. "I hope that with this, you can learn to bury some of that anger. It isn't doing anyone any good."

Eli sat quietly again. Throughout his entire life, he had always respected his father, and mother for that matter, for being honest with him- if not brutally honest. It was Malcolm who explained that Leila was moving out. It was Malcolm who explained that Leila was pregnant. It was Malcolm who explained to Eli how important his mother was as a lawyer. But never had it occurred to Eli that Malcolm and Leila had kept important things away from him.

Sure, he reasoned, he was more than certain that there were some secrets between the two. Secrets he probably did not want to know at that. But this… _This_ was something Eli felt that he was obligated to know. His father had donned a costume and gotten himself killed for doing it and Leila _knew_ why Malcolm became Army Ant in the first place.

"He wanted to tell you once," Leila continued. "I told him not to."

"Why?!" Eli growled. "It wasn't your dad being shot at! It was mine! And now-"

"Because," Leila calmly intervened. "Because you wouldn't know how to handle it, just like now."

"Handle- _What_ the hell is that supposed to mean? I handle shit everyday by myself because of this! And you _knew_!"

Leila gave Eli another warning gaze. "Watch your language Elias." The woman all but rolled her eyes back to the road, now driving slower. "And no, you wouldn't know how to handle those nights alone with thoughts that Miles could be in a burning building or a shoot-out with your friends from the SRC."

"You just thought about yourself," argued Eli with his fists clutched. "You always have."

Nothing more came from Leila as the woman drove to her destination. Eli was unsure about what he was angrier about; the fact that Leila knew and wouldn't tell him or the fact that his parents had kept him out of the loop prior to the death of Army Ant.

Soon Leila pulled into a parking lot. Eli realized that they were in the Ivy Town University parking lot, one of them at least, though was not in any mood to do anything school related. Or rather, he wouldn't mind doing anything for a school that had no attachments to his mother.

"Today is the open house for their middle college program," stated Leila as she parked in an empty parking space. "I am going inside. You can join me or take the bus home."

Eli's eyes narrowed. "You're mad? For what? You got to know-"

"We're not arguing Elias. You can join me or you can leave me. You choose." Leila said.

"No," responded Eli, shaking his head. "No, you won't make it seem like _I_ ever had the chance to leave you! Because if I could, _if I could_ , I wouldn't be here! I wouldn't be doing some stupid deal doing whatever! I'd be in Gotham or Bludhaven living my life away from whatever crap you and Dad can make together!"

"Then leave Elias. I won't stop you anymore." With those words, Leila stepped out of the car, taking her keys and purse with her.

Eli sat stunned. She had actually left him, and not in the way that he had earlier complained about. Leila had left him there and twisted the tale so that it seemed to be that _he_ was leaving _her_! And for what? Because she chose this random fucking moment to reveal such a sensitive piece of information- information he had asked for earlier, no less!

Eli took in a deep breath to keep himself calm and went over the situation. Leila was, as normal, a bitch. He was currently in her car at Conn-IV, which meant that he could actually get a bus ride to the gym and deal with Canary and Arrow. Other options would be taking the subway back to New Camford and trying to find something else to occupy his time.

Or, he heard a part of him say, you can do what you promised to do yesterday and spend time with Leila.

Eli grimaced. That plan seemed rather unrealistically in his character at the moment. Spend time with the one person who he truly wanted to be away from? What sense did that make? And why would it just erratically pop up in his mind like that?

Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on other things. Alexander Wyvern, Bookworm. He was here. He was present. Hornet had to find him before it was too late. Tobias Whale had to pay as well. Jade's father had to be saved from Jade.

And then no more Hornet.

Eli grunted at that. His mom had shortened Hornet's life by removing one of the reasons that Eli became Hornet in the first place. She had metaphorically demolished the main reason he had donned Trent's unused costume in the first place. And she did so, for what? To clear the air? To "bond" with him? What the hell was her reason? To bury his anger that starts and ends with _her_?!

Furious, Eli got out of the car, slamming the door close behind him. He was sick and tired of people noticing his anger- Nick had, his mother had, Ben had, and now Black Canary and Green Arrow were mentioning it. He knew he was angry but there were reasons behind this. Bookworm, Whale, Holocaust, the Hound, his mom, his dad's death there were many reasons behind his rage. And yet they continued to speak to him as if he was a child who couldn't understand simple things.

Yet for some reason he found himself walking _to_ the building that Leila had entered. There was no reason for him to be walking there. He could have left. He _should_ have left.

But he was not Leila Rassan or whatever her actual real name was. Elias Jackson did not run from his problems, he solved them.

"Hi! Are you here for the Middle College Tour?" Eli hardly paid the woman at the set up kiosk in front of the building any attention.

"Yeah," he growled.

"Okay," the ever chipper brunette said. "What's your name?"

"Eli Jackson." The woman nodded and wrote the name on a list before filling out a name tag, and handing Eli the tag. "Thanks."

"No problem! Enjoy the University of Connecticut in Ivy Town!"

Eli rolled his eyes at the statement and walked inside whatever building this was. He was not trying to be rude, at her at least, but he still disliked whenever people spoke the university's full name instead of referring to it as Ivy University or Conn-4.

Eli looked around the area he had just entered. To him, it was equivalent to walking into an arts museum. Portraits of people from decades ago hung on the wall in large golden frames with small glass displays next to the walls that held artifacts of the city's and university's past. There was a small crowd of people entering a room with opened large double-wooden doors.

Eli debated on where he should go. The only times that he has stepped foot on Ivy University's campus were when he went to see the science fair with his school. In truth, he was lost. But he knew he could just turn around and walk away if needed be.

…But that would be what _she_ wanted him to do.

"I wanted to surprise you," Eli nearly jumped at his mother's voice coming from behind him. He rounded on her, seeing her brown eyes zeroed in on his person, Eli relaxed. "I knew you wouldn't just jump at the idea of transferring schools so, I felt like a tour would change your mind."

Eli noticed that she stood with an eerie calamity that all but startled him. It was like they had not just had a verbal dispute five minutes ago that ended with her telling her oldest son to leave.

"The door is still opened, Eli. You can leave whenever you want." spoke Leila. "I'm not forcing you to do this and not going to fight with you anymore."

Eli's eyes narrowed. "I don't run away like you do." Leila just stared at him, her eyes mimicking his dangerous look. "You think that I want to be like you? You think I want to leave my family behind to chase some stupid selfish dream?"

"No. I do not think that you want to be me." Leila punctually stated. "You want to be Elias Jackson. Then be Elias Jackson _elsewhere_."

"Why are you trying to kick me out of your life?" Eli whispered angrily, stepping up to his mother. "You do all of this to force me to live with you and now _this_?"

"Am I the one that's angry?" Her childish remarked made Eli recoil a little as if he was dodging an invisible strike. "I brought you here to see if you liked the program and to reconnect with you. You want out. So get out." Leila's left brow rose. "That is what _you_ want, isn't it?"

Eli wanted to answer her but the truth was, it _was_ what he wanted. He wanted to be out there looking for his objectives as Hornet. He wanted to find out if Senator Pullman was Jade's father or not. Hell, he wanted to spend a day with Barbara _without_ anything or anyone interrupting.

But he was here.

"Here are your options," Leila said in her righteous tone. "You can do what you want and leave. I'll see you when you decided to return home. Or, you do what I want and that is to spend the rest of the day with me." Leila crossed her arms. "Those are you choices. Choose."

She out-lawyered, Eli thought. Those were the words Malcolm used whenever Leila somehow narrated the situation to the point that it seemed that she was right and they (Eli and his dad) were wrong. This was one of those moments. Eli could do what he wanted and look like a giant asshole _or_ try to muster out a day with a woman he has had necessity-only contact with for the past eight years.

Leila's eyes left Eli for a second before darting back to him, this time softer as if she felt something remotely remorseful for her earlier words or actions.

"Desoraa-man," Leila muttered.

"What does that-"

"Forgive me." Leila interrupted softly. "It means, 'forgive me' in Kahndi. I'm apologizing, Elias." For reasons unknown, Eli felt as if he had actually won this round. His body noticeably relaxed and the woman stepped by Eli. "Join me, if you want. Again, I won't push. I won't judge. But I want you to join me."

Despite the fact that Eli knew he won this argument, he felt like a loser. Maybe it had something to do with Leila openly apologizing. She never did that, especially not in her native language. The fact that she did so made Eli feel as if he was the asshole here.

Then again… Maybe she did this because they were in public and people would assume that Eli was the one in the wrong here.

Eli shoved his hands into his pants pockets with a grumble. "I should've just left…"

He should have. He _could_ have. But facts were that he didn't. He stayed because that's what he thought he had to do. No matter the reasons for or against the decision, he had to stay.

And stay he did.

* * *

Leila spent most of the day afterward attempting to start anew with Eli to no avail. She had explained to him how underrated Ivy University's Law program actually was- one of the state's best apparently. She attempted to tell him more about Bialya and the people from it. Of course, Eli could not care less about Bialya, the Kingdom of Kahndaq, or the people from both combined eras. She even cracked a few jokes about her college life with Malcolm.

All in all, it was a bust and Eli regretted every second he was with the woman.

Well… Not _fully_ regretted his decision. He had, while on the tour at Ivy University, spotted many adults present without the child they wished to enroll into the program. They all had their fake smiles and asked questions about how their child could excel here instead of the middle college program offered at Cam State or Calvin College. Leila, however, didn't offer any fake smiles and stood like proud parent next to Eli. It made Eli feel a little bit better knowing that he could actually make his mom (though he had referred to her as "Mrs. Nolan" for the rest of the day) happy.

Apparently, he didn't spend enough time doing that for his dad…

When Eli returned back to the Nolan residence in Mancastle Hills, he did not even entertain the thoughts of another late night talk with Leila. Her visibly shaking hand told him that she would be out there for a while smoking in secret but he was going to bed.

That is until he heard a quiet but noticeable knock on his bedroom door.

Eli grunted quietly, climbing out of bed and walked to his locked door. Unlocking and subsequently opening it, Eli was surprised to see Sam standing in the hallway.

"What is it?" Eli sighed out.

"Um," Sam nervously began. "Are you…?"

"Am I _what_?" Eli impatiently egged on. He saw Sam wince and shook his head. The last thing he needed was for Leila, or Robert, to think that he was bullying the boy. "Come in Sam."

Sam hurriedly moved by Eli and made a beeline towards Eli's bed. Eli chewed at the insides of his cheeks before closing his door and walking to his bed cautiously. In his mind, he approached the situation like he did the children on the bed. Don't do anything startling or frightening and this would go by smoothly. Of course, Hornet scared kids (and adults) a lot more than Elias Jackson did.

"What do you want to talk about?" Eli asked in a quieter and calmer tone.

"You were mad and… Well you leave when you're mad." Sam connected aloud. "Are you leaving again?"

Eli glanced down at the boy. "Why does it matter?"

"Because, well, you're my big brother," Eli quietly scoffed at the comment. "Mom talks about you a lot too… Well, she did yesterday."

"Uh-huh?" Eli was clearly not interested by Sam continued.

"Yeah! She was saying how tough you were and how smart you were and how cool you were! Well, I think you're cool, but she said that I can't cry if I want to be you." Sam recollected eagerly.

Eli couldn't help but laugh quietly. "Be me? Sam, you can't be me. We're different for good reasons."

"Is it because-"

"It's because you're Sam and I'm Eli. It's who we are." Eli interrupted. "Be Sam Nolan, alright? Maybe they'll be kids who want to be you someday."

Sam nodded. "Okay!" The boy then paused and stared at Eli wide-eyed. "Have you seen Hornet yet? Mom says not to talk about him or any hero around you but… Have you?"

Eli stared at Sam for a brief moment. Given that today had gone terribly wrong, he had half the mind to just throw the kid out of his room and get some sleep. But none of it was Sam's fault per se.

"Once, but I didn't talk to him." Eli said, making Sam buzz with excitement on his bed. "Why? Do you want to be like him to?"

"My friend's mom was at Kacey One and- and she saw Hornet fight the bad guys there!" Sam revealed, making Eli's brows rise in false amusement. "And he was awesome! He was like pow and bang! And the bad guys were all beaten by him and his sidekicks!"

Eli actually chuckled at the thought of him having sidekicks. Then he thought about Nightwing being one of those sidekicks. Oh, he thought, the fights that we'd get into…

Eli just shook his head. "Running around with guns don't… _Doesn't_ ," Eli paused after he corrected his grammar. Damn his mother was _really_ rubbing off on him. "Make someone awesome, Sam. Just dangerous."

"Well… He saves people too… Isn't that cool?" Sam asked.

"I guess." Eli stated before exhaling softly. "Listen, you need to get to bed. I don't need your parents thinking I'm keeping you up, alright?"

"Fine but… Don't go, please?" Sam asked as he got off of Eli's bed.

Again Eli sighed. "I'm not leaving tonight Sam. Go to bed."

"Okay… See you tomorrow!"

Eli said nothing. In truth, Eli would most likely be gone tomorrow before Sam woke up. Sam would more than likely go to the neighbor's house and not think about this conversation or Eli's whereabouts. Maybe Sam and his friends would talk about Hornet and maybe they wouldn't. In reality, Eli knew that life would go on for Sam regardless if Eli was there or not. Sam had Leila and Robert to make sure of it.

However, Eli's envious thoughts were halted by the vibrations of his cell phone. He answered the call and just lied back in his bed.

"Yeah?"

"Hey," Barbara said on the other line. "Bad time?"

Eli laughed quietly. "Perfect time actually."

His mother would always be a constant hit-or-miss with him and Sam was hardly any better. But at least Eli had people he could actually trust. Barbara was one of the most trustworthy people in the world and Eli was simply glad to know her.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Took a few months off (most of it on vacation in Pensacola, New Orleans, and Houston) but I got back two days ago and typed this up. Before I forget to mention it, in this story, Bialya, Qurac, and parts Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan make up the former Kahndaq with Bialya touching the Mediterranean Sea (south of Lebanon, north of Israel) and Qurac to Bialya's east bordering Syria and Jordan. Also the pronunciation of "Desoraa-ma" is "day-so-rah mah" and will be a phrase that Eli will regrettably use in the nearby future. Lots more of Eli and Leila's rocky relationship to come, along with the building of Nightwing's "initiative", and a little trip to the library may do Hornet some good. But before then, if you have any comments, thoughts, or questions, leave a review or PM to let me know and I'll see you next time. Peace.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Warnings:** This chapter is rated T for Teen for swearing.

* * *

The Markings of a Hero

Chapter Seventeen: Biting the Arrow

The building was set to be demolished any day now if the city would actually get to work. For now, it provided Hornet the best cover from the deal that was going on outside. Ignoring the aged stench of paint and whatever animal died in the next room, Hornet looked out of the previously boarded up window. While there was a Tobias Whale-related problem going on, Eli's mind was on something else.

He had to give his mother an answer about transferring schools tomorrow.

 _"How many do you see?"_ Black Canary came in through the communicator that she had given him.

"Two, three… Five." Eli counted quietly.

 _"Driver?"_

"…Six," Eli recounted. "Four doing the deal. One standing in front of the SUV. One in the car."

 _"I'm moving around to take care of the guy in the car. Cover me."_ Canary ordered before adding, _"I hope you packed the non-lethal arrows, Hornet. We don't want this to turn into a bloodbath."_

Eli quietly agreed to the terms and reached for the new item on his back. In the past two days, Eli has gone from hating training with the Black Canary to hating training with the Black Canary _and_ Green Arrow. While Arrow was back in Star City for some problem that Eli had no care about, the man had issued a challenge for Eli to use the bow on missions with Canary.

Yes, for the past two nights, Hornet has been carrying extra weight with the collapsible bow and a quiver of an assorted thirty arrows. Tonight, twenty of the arrows were typical "non-lethal" arrows that Green Arrow had developed a while ago. In Arrow's words, the arrows, when shot properly, deliver a "gorilla's punch" to the target without piercing skin. There were five "shock arrows" which were Eli's favorite ones to use. They did as their name implied and shocked whatever they stuck; people, computers, cars, etcetera. Finally, he had five "tranquilizers" which were arrows that had the same knock-out punch that his darts carried.

All in all, Eli had been given a modified arsenal that Green Arrow's protégé, Speedy, carried. The key difference was that Speedy was apparently trained by some Native American master of archery and Eli was a city boy who had more experience using a crossbow on _Call of Duty_ than he did a bow in life.

Hornet reached behind him to grab an arrow, feeling the shaft and fletching to recognize which arrow was which. Grabbing a simple non-lethal arrow, Eli cautiously loaded his bow, taking aim.

 _"On my mark,"_ Canary instructed. _"One… Two… Go!"_

Eli fired the arrow, it whistling through the air as it darted for his target. Hornet's aim was at the man's unguarded face, and when the man was knocked clear on his ass from the strike to his forehead, Eli actually smirked. He did not sit with his satisfaction for long though, nocking another arrow and taking aim again and firing at another target. This shot missed his initial target, again the face, but hit the second man in the shoulder.

"The window!"

Hornet ducked out of the window, crouched as he moved towards the doorway that led out of the bare room. Oliver could shoot arrows at fast succession with a form that only Oliver knew. Eli was not that skilled and figured that he never would be. However, with his trusted handguns currently at the Canary's gym, Hornet had already theorized that he would have to either become better with the bow or die.

The Yellow Jacket grabbed an arrow quickly and held it as he dipped inside of another room of the dank building. Leaping over a downed wooden beam, Eli approached another window and pressed his back flushed against it. He knocked the arrow and inhaled, hearing a small hiss from the arrowhead.

Good, he thought, an electric arrow. With this, he did not have to hit a specific body part. Instead he just had to hit the person.

With bated breath, Hornet quickly turned his body left. Now able to view outside of the window, he quickly took aim at one of the unaware men and fired the arrow. The arrow darted to the large man's left thigh where it hit him and gave him a vicious shock. The Yellow Jacket vanished from his spot again and moved to reposition with satisfaction on his face.

 _"Get down here. It's done."_

Eli grunted angrily before pausing in his repositioning. Working alone meant doing everything by himself. There were times when he wished that he didn't, given that he had to knock the guys out and then detain them; which was always a hassle. Yet working with the Black Canary made Eli feel insignificant. She let him search for clues. She let him fight some low tier criminal. But ultimately she did most of the heavy lifting.

"I'm on my way." Hornet responded, his voice changer voicing most of his anger and disappointment.

There was a plus-side to working with Black Canary, Eli figured as he carefully descended down the old wooden stairs. The blonde screaming bombshell was a more talkative teacher than Ben was. She better explained why Eli could not do certain moves off the bat and had a softer approached to it. Not that Eli _needed_ a softer approach, it just felt better listening to Dinah tell Eli that what he was doing was wrong than it was having Ben's intimidating stare on Eli's figure for minutes until Ben simply said, "Do it again."

And then there was Oliver.

Eli didn't know what to make out of the man. Oliver was not a serious as Dinah was (personality wise that is), yet seemed to be just as wise and attentive as Ben is. Oliver had been aware of Eli's noticeable anger, much to the boy's chagrin, though he didn't necessarily push for Eli to get rid of it as Dinah and Ben had in their own different ways. Eli was unsure if he was going to like the rich left-wing (Oliver made it a mission to point out his political stance) Robin Hood wannabe. The guy was the reason that Eli was using a freaking bow and arrows in gunfights.

The alleyway that the scrimmage had taken place in was surprisingly lit and had a few passersby stopping to record the sight of the Black Canary and Hornet. Hornet, of course, ignored the small crowd and walked straight to the blonde who stood with her hands holding a few pieces of crumpled of paper.

Behind Black Canary was a parked white SUV with the driver door opened and lights still on. Two downed bodies lied directly next to the vehicle with four more between the SUV and the blue car parked near the end of the wide alley. Another person sat unconscious against the car which made Eli slightly jealous that Dinah had done all this without him.

"Bow," Dinah chided to Eli without looking up from the evidence she collected. Eli grunted and folded his bow and placed it back in its carrier. "And there were seven, not six."

"Sorry." came the gruff response of Hornet.

"I don't expect you to see the man hidden in the trunk of the SUV." Black Canary said quietly as she looked up at Hornet. "The scene is yours. Don't do too much in front of pedestrians."

"Right…"

Gathering evidence was a part of the job. Without evidence, vigilantes looked like assholes who just ran around beating the hell out of people for no good reason. Then again, some of them did that anyway.

But onto the subject of gathering evidence with onlookers. _That_ was a problem that Hornet had trouble dealing with. Chattering and camera flashing were two very distracting things that made Eli want to shoot innocently annoying bystanders.

If only he had his guns…

Hornet opened the back door of the SUV checking behind the driver seat first. His eyes scanned the vehicle carefully. There were guns, rifles that resembled Killer Moth's brand, on the back seats of the vehicle. The stench of a recently lit cigarette filled the confined space but nothing else really popped out at Eli.

Eli then moved away from the vehicle and studied the unconscious and bound (though he had no idea where Black Canary kept her zip-ties) men on the ground. The Saints Row Children were low-class thugs from Cheshire Square and their outfits reflected that. These men were wearing suits, three in all black body guard-like suits and the other four in assorted gray three-piece suits.

Four cheap three-piece suits, Eli thought as he recollected on the suits that Robert owned. They were paid more than the cut Eric gave his guys for selling drugs but less than the Mozgovs that Eli had run into. As for the men in black, their suits seemed oddly familiar. In fact…

"Pullman." Eli mumbled to himself as he walked towards the car parked near the end of the alleyway. Unfortunately, that meant nearing the small group of people watching the scene.

"It's the Yellow Jacket!"

"Ssh! Don't make him mad!"

"He's smaller than I thought!"

"Dude! He actually has a yellow jacket!"

This was why Hornet dodged media at all costs. Not because people thought of him as some angry gun-wielder that shot the first person that made him mad, because that was alright. But comments such as if the Yellow Jacket actually owned a yellow jacket was beyond the usual level of stupidity that he could handle.

Ignoring his anger for the moment, Hornet entered the car via the passenger side. He examined everything in plain sight first before opening the glove compartment. Several sheets of paper fell out along with a notepad and a cell phone. Hornet grabbed the phone before getting the small black notepad as well.

Eli heard the distant sirens growing and realized that Black Canary had left some time ago. This made Hornet pocket the notepad and cell phone before eying the small crowd.

"Hey Yellow Jacket! Are you from New Camford?"

"Are you dating Black Canary?"

"How old are you?"

Eli pulled his hood over his masked face before grabbing a small marble-sized ball from a pocket. He eyed the group of citizens boringly before flicking the sphere towards them. The smokescreen turned the crowd into a coughing frenzy.

The smoke slowly lifted with the small pack looking around for either Hornet or Black Canary. Most with cell phones in hand and hearts sunken searched for minutes until one child who was fortunate enough to be walking home with his father spoke out,

"That… was…. awesome!"

* * *

Alexander Wyvern was not an easy man to spot in a crowd, even with his description plastered on APBs across the nation. Hell, he had published a novel called _Telltales of Gotham_ that had his picture in it and people _still_ had a hard time recognizing him. He was just that mundane. Standing at a full height of five-five, the thin pale-skinned man was always swallowed by the colorful tourists that flocked to the city of New Camford.

Of course, he gave credit to his hideaway to the man seated in his study. Alexander was not necessarily fond of people in his study- and he definitely detested people in his _chair_ \- but that was beyond the point. The point was, the mysterious blond from earlier had returned with a favor no doubt.

"Sorry if I made myself comfortable without your knowledge," the blond said. "But we have business to talk about. I need you to play your role in the game, Bookworm."

Alexander stepped into the lavished study in his home in Venice Terrace. The room was furnished with a nice cherry-wood executive desk with his thin Dell notebook atop of it and an LED table lamp near the upper-left corner. The two bookshelves that lined the walls to Alexander's right and left were matching color of the desk, both stocked with several of his favorites.

But of course, his attention was on his uninvited guest.

"What is it this time?" Alexander, also known as Bookworm, asked the blond young adult.

"Oh, nothing big. You just have to kill the Yellow Jacket, that's all." Bookworm didn't respond to the request initially, his brain trying to find sound logic to him even encountering New Camford's Killer Bee.

"You want me to kill the Yellow Jacket?" Bookworm replied after a moment of silence. When the blond nodded his head, Alexander continued. "And for what reason would I do that? The Yellow Jacket doesn't guard Venice Terrace and, if the paper is right, has only been here in search of the Russians with the club. None of that has anything to do with me, or you for that matter."

The businessman sat up with a laugh. "You would think that, wouldn't you? Oh, you low-leveled bosses are so quick to assume things!" The man's laughter slowly died, he wiping an imaginary tear from his eye. "No, you have things wrong. Yellow Jacket is a player in _my_ game and he's _ruining it_! I want Whale to become the power boss in New Camford. And you will help me do it."

Bookworm snorted. "And what makes you think that I would do that?"

"Because this," the man said twirling his index finger in the air. "Is all because of me. So if you want to continue to live here without Batman or Nightwing finding you, then you will play your role. Or lose."

Alexander stood quietly as he figured that the man had him beat. When Bookworm had escaped from Gotham City, he had met the man who was "impressed" by the fact that Bookworm had found a pathway out of the hectic scene. He had offered Alexander a task in this "game" of his which kept the Gotham City PD off of Alexander's trail. In return, Alexander did "favors" for the mysterious man when asked.

However, Bookworm had one final problem to voice.

"While I normally stay away from social media," Bookworm began as he pushed his glasses up. "One of the things trending is the team-up of the Yellow Jacket and Black Canary. It has the hash-tag of 'Black and Yellow'. What are you going to do about her?"

"Black Canary is an NPC that is still nothing more than a background. Your main rival is the Yellow Jacket. Delete him." The blond said as he stood up from the chair. "I'm sending the Hound into the game first, something like the sub-boss to a really low level. I couldn't care less if he succeeds or not. Chances are he won't be in the next game anyway."

"Uh-huh…" said Alexander giving the blond a thorough look over. "I never caught your name."

A tense bout of silence followed with Bookworm being leveled by a heavy stare from the businessman. The man in the light gray suit reached into his inner coat pocket and revealed a business card.

"Call me elite."

Alexander cautiously moved to the blond and took the card, frowning upon reading the name.

"E-seven-three-three-T? That does not spell 'elite'." Bookworm announced.

"It's E733T. Chief E733T." The blond stated as he moved by Bookworm. "I'll be checking in on your status within the week. Hopefully you'll get the time bonus."

Bookworm smirked. "Hopefully."

Killing the Yellow Jacket was never on the agenda but it was now. Now the only issue was whether or not he should let that hooligan Hound die before or save him.

Or he could just kill him too.

* * *

Dinah was actually impressed. Eli had, not only tracked down another drug deal and stopped it single-handedly, but had also returned back to Ivy Town for some one-on-one training. Said training turned into her practically beating him inside of the boxing ring upstairs until he finally, and begrudgingly, forfeited. That had occurred five minutes ago, _exactly_ five minutes ago from the current time.

Now Eli was looking over evidence as if Canary's earlier blows to him meant absolutely nothing to him.

The blonde sipped some of her warm coffee from her stainless steel travel mug. Her assessment of the kid was that he was, for all his worth, still quite reckless. His ambition caused him to have tunnel vision and that sometimes put those around him in more danger than needed. And while that tunnel vision helped his aim, more with his darts and guns than a bow and arrow, it caused him to get flustered easily when someone or something snuck up behind him. Then again, he was just a kid and had years to learn how to take in his surroundings before locking in on a single target or goal.

Dinah learned that Eli had become inured to pain for someone his age and size. His miscues in his landings and the blows he took from taking down two members of the SRC, and subsequently from her, were signs of this. It was almost as if he welcomed it at some points, like he had to endure _something_ to get what he wanted. That alone scared Dinah and made her think that Ben was right. Eli could go down a dark path without someone intervening.

"How was your trip to Ivy University?" Dinah suddenly asked. Eli, who was looking over a notebook stolen from the first deal, paused in his search for whatever and glanced over at Dinah.

Admittedly, she had not planned on how to start a conversation with Eli. The words just seemed to come out before she had a chance to stop them. Yet, judging from Eli's reaction, this was not the best start to a great- hell, not even _good-_ conversation.

"It was alright." answered Eli in a dread-filled monotone voice. Dinah was actually impressed. It almost sounded as if he still had his voice changer on without his suit.

"It had to be more than 'alright' Eli. You seem stress." Dinah pointed out. Eli shifted in his seat on the couch. "Remember our deal, you tell me so that I know whether or not to pull you from action."

Eli juggled his options in his mind for a moment before relenting altogether. He was in pain, both physical and mental anguish, and had decided to retire for the night. The last thing he needed was to piss Dinah off before he left for home.

"I had to deal with Mrs. Nolan's shit for half an hour while listening about school. How do you think it went?" Eli returned. Dinah's firm stare told him to retract his statement, and tone, and try again, which he wisely did. "She told me things about my dad, things I never knew and didn't think she knew. Apparently they were talking since she left."

Dinah's eyes softened, but only slightly. "It's a thing called love Eli. Why does that bother you so much?"

"Because…! Because she _knew_ that he was Army Ant and did _nothing_." Eli told his new mentor, trying his best to remain calm. "Those days when Dad would waste money gambling and she would just yell at him… She never helped. She never does anything."

"On that same notion," offered Canary. " _You_ did nothing as well." Eli scoffed and turned back to the notebook. "Your anger towards your mom is solely on the fact that she married another man. But you're too angry or stupid to see that you're doing the _same thing_ as she did."

Eli's eyes snapped up at the woman. "How? I'm _saving_ people, not lawyering for some of the corporations that are hurting them."

Eli felt uncomfortable when Dinah set her drink down and approached him. If the tension was not so high, the thought of the fishnet-wearing heroine approaching him on a couch would have been the highlight of his day. But Dinah's face warned him of a lecture with a high chance of pain and he wanted nothing to do with it.

And then, her anger diminished and she sat next to him with a soft sigh.

"Eli," Dinah began. "You miss your parents." Again, the teen scoffed though his attitude was halved when Dinah placed her hand on his shoulder. "You miss your mom too, Eli. And the sooner you admit it, the sooner I can teach you the _real_ stuff."

Eli's demeanor flattened instantly. He was not a kid, not like Sam was. He knew bait when it was thrown in front of him now. However, she had piqued his interest. It was hard to deny her when she was dangling one of two baits he could not refuse.

"Fine," the boy was disinclined to settle at the moment. But he had to do something, _anything_ , to draw the attention away from his personal problems.

Dinah smiled. "Good. Now here's one of the strongest attacks I know."

Eli flinched when her arms went around him. He could already predict how far she could probably toss him if she tried. But the toss never came. Instead, Dinah pulled the boy into a comfortable hug that he him frozen with confusion.

Dinah took in a quiet breath and held Eli's body against hers. She thought about the day she met Wildcat after her parents' funeral. He had caught her assaulting a petty thief and took her back to his gym to train. Needless to say, he beat the hell out of her, but he ended it in a hug.

Slowly, Eli reciprocated the hug, finding some comfort in the blonde's hold. Of course, this alerted the blonde to some degree. Regardless of the fact that he was out of costume, Eli carried some of his darts around for safety. This was the perfect moment for him to jab her with the sleep inducing agent. Instead, Eli paralyzed her with something else.

"Dinah… Thank you."

* * *

The following morning, Eli woke up in his apartment alone. He half expected Jade to be in bed next to him telling him that he snored or trying to break into his laptop. A part of him would have settled for Leila or Sam knocking on his door for whatever stupid reason that they found fit to interrupt him. Instead, he was alone with no one but the silent ghost of his dead father lingering around.

Eli huffed as he shuffled out of bed. Malcolm was not a secretive guy- bar the whole vigilante thing- and it was easy for people to see things on him. When the man began gambling again, Eli knew. Eli could see it on Malcolm. Yet, Eli missed the your-dad-is-a-vigilante sign somewhere along the way.

Maybe it's because you never cared, a voice popped inside of Eli's head.

Eli ignored the voice as long as he could as he trudged to the bathroom. Jade had mentioned that to him; that he never cared as much as he acted like he did. Truthfully, Eli found that statement to be unfair. He had a life of his own, as did his dad. Was he supposed to stay under Malcolm's watch all day to find out if his father was secretly a vigilante or not? Eli certainly didn't think so, but Jade still pressed that Eli took his dad's, and mom's, life for granted.

Of course, this was the girl who was secretly planning on killing her dead-beat father.

Eli studied his reflection. Once more, his physical features remind him of his father yet the mental focus and anger that was visibly seen was a clear cut from his mother's genetic coding. His eyes trailed to his body.

Damn the bruises were beginning to show up. Eli was not comfortable walking shirtless around Leila, not like he did it much around her anyway, but now it was becoming a larger problem. His time as Hornet was beginning to leave marks all over his body. In his mind, it would have been much easier if Barbara had given him a hickey and Leila had seen it than to try to find some sort of lie that would justify a wooden bat made bruise under his left arm.

Naturally, Eli's morning would not be completed without his cell phone chiming loudly to get his attention. Eli rushed out of the bathroom and across the hall to his bedroom to answer it.

"Kid," Nick spoke from the other line. "Are you up? Damn it kid, check the news! This is bad!"

Eli grumbled quietly as he fumbled the remote off the stand in his bedroom before turning the TV on. He flipped to the news, which he assumed Nick was watching, and promptly dropped the remote after he did so.

"Bookworm…" Eli muttered as he read the header on the live feed.

 _"… some sources of the deceased say that Andrea received a mysterious phone call a little after one this morning asking her to play a game. She would be murdered an hour later by, what detectives assume to be, a reemergence of the renowned Bookworm…"_

"What are they talking about?" Eli asked Nick.

"Bookworm is apparently back and he has some new friends." Nick answered grimly. "They attacked Andrea Campbell- Danger Girl. Cops are just assuming that the murder was done by Bookworm, but given the details of it and what we know, it most likely is Bookworm. And that's not even the half of it."

"What is it?"

Nick sighed heavily. "Earlier they were talking about a message that was found at the scene. A note for all heroes in New Camford _especially_ the Yellow Jacket. You need to find this guy before more people end up dead."

"Damn it," Eli quietly swore. "He came to her house so he knew who she was. Just like Dad."

"Eli, I don't think-"

"It's not the Hound. It's the guy above him. Nightwing told me about it in Gotham." Eli interrupted. "If I find out more, I'll tell you about it. Until then, I need to get into touch with Canary."

"Eli, if this is too much for you, stay back. Miles and Trent are bad enough. I won't have you on my conscience as well." Nick's voice was as serious as it has been since he called, further alerting Eli about the severity of the situation. "But I know who your parents are kid. You'll do what you think you have to do. Just be careful."

Eli's eyes narrowed at the scene on his TV screen. He had drifted away from one of his main objectives and now Bookworm- or the guy above him- was looking for the Hornet. Did that mean that they knew who he was as well? No. They would have attacked him instead of some woman living in Salisbury. Now she was dead and Bookworm was after him.

"I'll be more than careful." Eli finally said. "I have to go."

"Be smart Elias. Smart and patient."

Eli agreed before hanging up. It was time for him to actually take down Bookworm before someone else got killed because of him. Hornet was not Batman. People did not die because he could not detain or eliminate threats. He would save the city that his dad attempted to save one way or another.

* * *

Hornet was not big on working directly with the cops but knew that they held some of the answers to his questions. Still, as he repelled onto the sidewalk with Black Canary landing beside him, he was still nervous about the whole ordeal. Worse, there was a larger crowd present than there was last night.

"Holy shit! It's Black Canary and Yellow Jacket!"

"She's _so_ hot!"

"Does he have arrows now?"

Hornet removed the hood over his masked face and walked through the crowd to the yellow tape that divided the crowd and the crime scene. The officers standing there eyed him anxiously, more aware of his actions towards the GCPD than anything else at the moment.

"I need to get in," Hornet spoke through his voice changer. "If it's Bookworm, I will know."

He wouldn't but they didn't know that. For all the cops in New Camford knew, the Yellow Jacket was a see-all know-all kind of guy.

"Let him through. We might need his help." Eli looked passed the two men that prevented him from getting by to see an Asian-American officer speaking. "He'll probably be more help than you guys anyway."

The two officers grunted before raising the yellow tape, Hornet and Black Canary ducking beneath it and walking towards the cop that granted them permission.

"Officer Matt Li. I've heard about both of you," the man said before tipping his hat towards Black Canary. "Kind of a fan."

"Of me or him?" Canary responded.

"Would you blame me if I said you? Word in Gotham is that he's as tough on the criminals as he is on the cops. Call me biased but I'd rather not be knocked out by the Yellow Jacket- or worse." Officer Li lightheartedly joked as the trio entered the apartment building Andrea lived in. "So… Who are you? I mean, are you from Cheshire Square or Venice Terrace? Hell, you could be from Calvin City."

"He's not that talkative," Black Canary voiced while walking up the stairs to the deceased woman's floor. "And he prefers Hornet."

"Noted." said Officer Li before approaching another cop. "Let them inside the apartment. Hornet knows things about Bookworm."

Without a word the officer guarding the door stepped aside and allowed Hornet and Black Canary inside.

The one-bedroom apartment was rather small though well furnished. The shattered glass table and ultimately destroyed black couch were signs that Andrea had some income coming into the place. Eli looked down at the body lying on the floor to the kitchenette.

"Bookworm has henchmen? That's not good." Black Canary voiced.

Hornet studied the downed man from his position. The henchman was undoubtedly dead, blood pooled beneath his body. Eli wondered why the body was still here hours after discovery but said nothing aloud about it. Instead he examined the position and the wound from his vintage point. And then he found the bloodied kitchen knife in a Ziploc bag on the counter.

Humming quietly, Hornet walk towards the backroom where the bedroom was located. Inside he found the long-haired brunette lying in a black leather cat-suit that highlighted her figure. The woman was seated against the bed on the floor, her right hand opened while her left arm was draped against her injured midsection.

"The Yellow Jacket!" The photographer stepped out of the bathroom and greeted the hero with shock and fear. "Wh… What are you doing here?!"

"My job," Eli grunted. Changing the visions of his goggles, he scanned the floor. "Where's forensics?"

"They came by earlier." The photographer stated. "Vigilantes have a different procedure then regular citizens. We're waiting for the _other_ guys to get here and investigate." Hornet nodded his head and squatted to eye the carpet better. "Are you… Are you going after him? Bookworm that is?"

Hornet was silent as he spotted a boot print in the small trail of blood next to Andrea's bed. He remembered his dad's notes- Bookworm was a man in a cheap business suit. This was a boot print which was something that people didn't wear with suits. Of course, Eli figured, there was the chance that Bookworm had stolen boots from prison or anywhere else. But it did not fit Bookworm's careful forte.

"They say that there could be another person that broke in. One that attacked her after the first was killed." Black Canary expounded from behind Hornet. "I'll make a call to see if Bookworm has some known associates in Blackgate before the riots."

"She was strangled with some kind of wire, most likely from behind," Eli stated, noting marks he had seen on guys that had pissed off Eric in the past. "And she was stabbed multiple times in the stomach." Hornet paused before standing up. "They jumped her."

The photographer whistled. "Wow… You really are smart." Hornet turned his attention to the thin redhead woman, who immediately flinched. "Uh! I m-mean, you are _r-really_ smart to repeat what the lady from the CSI said!"

Eli shook his head and walked towards the window in the bedroom, ignoring the bed, and the object on it, for last. Andrea's bedroom faced the front of the building which meant that whoever attacked the woman did not leave here. However, the window was opened so…

"What's he doing?" the photographer asked as she watched Hornet duck his head out of the window.

"Thinking." Black Canary answered with certainty. "Hornet may be a lot of things but he's no idiot."

"Right, right. So is he- Oh!" the redhead gasped when Hornet's body zipped out of the window and upwards. "So those things on his arms are what exactly?" Black Canary eyed the petite woman. "I'm sorry! I just never met him before!"

"Well, you are in luck. Hopefully." Dinah muttered the last part, unsure if Eli was in a better mood since he had called her or not.

Moments later, Hornet repelled back down and slipped back into the bedroom's window. Dinah noted that, while Eli was learning, he still was not as smooth as she would prefer. But he got the job done, she thought, mostly.

"He got onto the roof." Hornet noted before revealing a thin wire in his gloved hands. "What was used to choke her, I'm guessing."

"Anything else?" Canary asked.

"I doubt he left by helicopter. No one has mentioned that, yet." Hornet continued. "So he probably left down the fire escape. Avoided security camera somehow."

"What does the book say?"

Canary's question brought Eli's focus to a detail he purposely put off for last; the opened book on the bed. It didn't take a genius to see that Bookworm left said book there on purpose. Eli left the book be until he was sure that nothing crazy would happen if he touched it. No one could be too safe as of lately. But Black Canary was eager to get some clues and leave.

"A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be that profound secret and mystery to every other. Without Calvin, this place in New Camford would be this." Black Canary looked at the Yellow Jacket. "For the record, I hate puzzles."

"Oh! That quote is from _A Tale of Two Cities_!" the photographer admitted aloud.

"That isn't the note," Hornet mumbled before speaking. "And he's going to Ivy Union neighborhood."

Black Canary crossed her arms. "You have to be right about this, Hornet. If you're wrong-"

"Ivy Union is the 'tail' between New Camford and Ivy Town. If she's right then that's the answer to the puzzle." Hornet stated with certainty. "I know my city. What I don't know is the letter that was for the other heroes."

"Oh! They took that… With… Them…" The photographer's enthusiasm slowly died as she could practically feel Hornet's death glare through his sinister black goggles. "Um…"

"What did it say?" The threatening voice of New Camford's Killer Bee had the photographer's fingers shaking around her camera.

"Um, something about a contest with people like you." When Hornet released a grunt and Black Canary visibly scowled, the redhead revisited her words. "I meant heroes! Heroes like you!"

The two heroes present exchange glances. From Army Ant's records, Bookworm was not someone who just ran after random no-named heroes and attacked them in their homes. His rage was meant specifically for those who had wronged him, including the fifteen killed in New Camford. If Bookworm was calling heroes out for a "contest" then there had to be a reason for the change.

Eli compared Bookworm's past motives to those of Eric's; selfish and hackneyed. The moment Eric decided to up the ante and use different drugs, Eli knew that something was strange and easily found Tobias Whale and Holocaust to be the reason behind said change. Now, Eli wondered what caused Bookworm's apparent change.

"We should get out of here and see if we can't find where Bookworm will strike next." Black Canary announced. "We'll check out areas in Ivy Union, if you think he or the next clue will be there."

Hornet turned to her. "And the note?" Black Canary gave him a firm look which reminded him that he had not worked _all_ of his anger out the previous night. "Fine. I'm going to patrol the area to see if I can find more clues."

"Don't go too far." Hornet gave a solid nod, his dislike for her hovering over his patrols shown, but left thereafter without a single word.

"Is he, like, your son or something?" the photographer asked quietly.

"How old do you think I am?"

Eli heard the shout from outside the unit as he made his way out of the apartment building. He felt unnerved being surrounded by so many cops. They obviously did not like him, for one reason or another, and he obviously did not trust being with them with a bow and arrow as his main go-to weapon.

"Hornet," Officer Li jogged towards him, waving a small piece of paper in the air. "Here's something that might help."

Eli paused in mid-step. "You're helping me? For what?"

"I've been on this force for five years now and I've gotten to know some of the unsung heroes of this city," Officer Li stated as he held the note out to the Yellow Jacket. "I never knew Danger Girl personally- hell, I don't know _any_ of them personally! But she was a kickass partner off the books. And now I need someone to bring her murderer to justice."

The teen was unsure how to respond. Hornet's form of "justice" normally caused some sort of debate on the local news programs where he was revered as a murderous monster with little to no conscience. This cop was referring to Hornet's style of justice which borderlines vengeance.

Officer Li released a quiet sigh. "I heard what you did for the other guys, Army Ant and his partner. You went down to Gotham and got those guys and turned the Hound and Killer Moth over to the cops. Can you do that for Danger- no, she deserves her name- _Andrea's_ killer?"

Now Eli understood what he was being asked to do; whatever it took to bring justice for Andrea Campbell. It made Jade's words echo in Eli's mind for a moment. People would look to him as a hero whether he wanted it or not. It bothered Eli as he wanted to quit this entire thing once Whale was stopped and Jade either killed dad or walked away from her goal.

"Thanks," Officer Li stated as soon as Eli took the note. "And hey, if whoever is going after the men and women under the masks, you should be on the lookout. Our city has had enough of our heroes dying, don't you think? It's time for us to keep you all safe."

Hornet turned and pulled his hood over his head. "Noted."

With that single word, the teen fired a grappling hook from his gauntlets to a nearby rooftop and ascending quickly. Officer Li simply tipped his cap towards the departing teenager with a growing smile on his face.

"Go get 'em kid."

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Okay, so here's a glimpse to the main antagonist of the story, Chief E733T (Elite). Be prepared for Eli/Hornet to become a major part of this "game" of his later on. Officer Matt Li will also have small parts going forward; sometimes aiding Hornet (like now) and other times trying to stop or persuade him. Dinah will play an important role to both Eli and Hornet, being at times more of an older sister than a mentor with Oliver being the "unapproved boyfriend" who Eli at times bump heads with. Unfortunately, most of next chapter will not deal with Eli or New Camford. Instead, more than half of it will be focused in a city known as Dakota, Ohio. More of Tobias Whale's connections with Holocaust will be revealed in a rather "shocking" chapter. Till then, leave a review or PM for any questions, thoughts, or comments and I will address them in the next review corner. Bye.


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